February 25, 2026
Shane Croucher
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has emphasized Tehran’s position that it will not develop nuclear weapons in response to U.S. President Donald Trump saying he had not yet heard such a promise.
Shane Croucher
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has emphasized Tehran’s position that it will not develop nuclear weapons in response to U.S. President Donald Trump saying he had not yet heard such a promise.
A third round of indirect
U.S.-Iran talks is due to take place on Thursday in Geneva to reach a deal that
avoids military action by Washington, which has sent what Trump calls an
“armada” to the Middle East.
The top issue is Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran says is for civilian energy, but the U.S. and Israel fear will one day lead to the development of a weapon of mass destruction. Iran has stockpiles of uranium enriched to a purity beyond what is needed for energy purposes.
“[Trump] says, for example, that Iran should declare that we will not have nuclear weapons,” Pezeshkian said on Thursday in comments carried by Iranian state media, originally in Farsi.
“Well, the supreme leader has already stated that we will not have nuclear weapons at all. It’s different when I, as a politician, say something—because maybe politicians like us, who are not clerics, might not tell the truth to people.
“I might think that I’m like those politicians; I might lie too. But the leader of society, the religious leader of society, cannot lie. When he declares that we will not have nuclear weapons, it means we will not have them.
“Even if I wanted to move in that direction, I wouldn’t be able to. From a religious standpoint, I wouldn’t even have the right for it to cross my mind. We do not have the right to do such a thing.
“That’s what he says. They have not merely announced, so to speak, that we ‘do not want’ to have nuclear weapons.”
Donald Trump Warns Iran in SOTU Speech
In his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump said he wants to solve the Iran issue through diplomacy.
“We are in negotiations with [Iran]. They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon,'” Trump said during his speech.
“My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy, but one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon,” he added.
“And no one should ever doubt America’s resolve. We have the most powerful military on Earth.”
Two other issues high on Trump’s list are Iran’s ballistic missile capability and its support for proxy militias in the Middle East, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.
“They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America,” Trump told Congress.
Referring to Operation Midnight Hammer, the June 2025 strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities by the U.S. amid the 12-day war between Iran and Israel, Trump said Tehran was subsequently “warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, in particular, nuclear weapons. Yet they continue starting it all over.”
“We wiped it all out and they want to start all over again,” Trump added, “and are at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions.”
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program.
The top issue is Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran says is for civilian energy, but the U.S. and Israel fear will one day lead to the development of a weapon of mass destruction. Iran has stockpiles of uranium enriched to a purity beyond what is needed for energy purposes.
“[Trump] says, for example, that Iran should declare that we will not have nuclear weapons,” Pezeshkian said on Thursday in comments carried by Iranian state media, originally in Farsi.
“Well, the supreme leader has already stated that we will not have nuclear weapons at all. It’s different when I, as a politician, say something—because maybe politicians like us, who are not clerics, might not tell the truth to people.
“I might think that I’m like those politicians; I might lie too. But the leader of society, the religious leader of society, cannot lie. When he declares that we will not have nuclear weapons, it means we will not have them.
“Even if I wanted to move in that direction, I wouldn’t be able to. From a religious standpoint, I wouldn’t even have the right for it to cross my mind. We do not have the right to do such a thing.
“That’s what he says. They have not merely announced, so to speak, that we ‘do not want’ to have nuclear weapons.”
Donald Trump Warns Iran in SOTU Speech
In his State of the Union address to Congress on Tuesday, Trump said he wants to solve the Iran issue through diplomacy.
“We are in negotiations with [Iran]. They want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon,'” Trump said during his speech.
“My preference is to solve this problem through diplomacy, but one thing is certain, I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon,” he added.
“And no one should ever doubt America’s resolve. We have the most powerful military on Earth.”
Two other issues high on Trump’s list are Iran’s ballistic missile capability and its support for proxy militias in the Middle East, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.
“They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America,” Trump told Congress.
Referring to Operation Midnight Hammer, the June 2025 strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities by the U.S. amid the 12-day war between Iran and Israel, Trump said Tehran was subsequently “warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, in particular, nuclear weapons. Yet they continue starting it all over.”
“We wiped it all out and they want to start all over again,” Trump added, “and are at this moment again pursuing their sinister ambitions.”
Iran denies having a nuclear weapons program.
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