President Trump said he sent a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week asking that the two leaders "negotiate" over the Islamic republic's nuclear program. On Saturday, the Iranian leader condemned the effort by unnamed "bullying governments" to make a deal over the program.

Trump revealed this week that he was seeking to strike a new deal with the Iranian regime, after withdrawing from an Obama-era agreement in his first term.

"Such negotiations aren't aimed at solving issues," Khamenei wrote on X. "Their aim is to exert their dominance and impose what they want."

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei decried “bullying governments” in an apparent response to a letter the White House sent to Iran earlier in the week.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, said in a series of X posts Saturday he would not negotiate a nuclear deal with the U.S. due to its demands.

President Donald Trump said on Friday that he had sent a letter to the Iranian leadership warning of the possibility of a military intervention if a deal wasn’t reached.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks under a portrait of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, as armed forces commander slisten, at rear, in a ceremony meeting a group of officials, in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, March 8, 2025. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says he rejects a U.S. push for talks between the two countries because they would be aimed at imposing restrictions on Iranian missile range and its regio

Trump said on Friday he had warned Tehran in a letter it could face military action unless it agreed to talks for a nuclear deal. In a furious response on Saturday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran would not negotiate with "bullying governments" insisting on talks.