US claims about Iran role in Aramco raid 'maximum deceit'

Tehran has once again dismissed Washington's claims of Iran role in Yemen's attack on Saudi Aramco's oil plants as "maximum deceit" to hide the utter failure of the "maximum pressure" campaign against the Islamic Republic.

"To pin such action on Iran is in line with the maximum deceit approach that they have adopted following their failures," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said during a press briefing on Monday.

The attack on Saturday saw Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah fighters fly 10 combat drones to the gated oil city of Abqaiq, partially destroying the world's largest refinery.

The attack cut the kingdom's daily oil output by 5.7 million barrels, which is around half of its overall exports. That's a staggering five percent of global oil demand, which has led to a rally in oil prices.

Following the attack, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pointed the finger at Iran and said there was no evidence suggesting Yemen had carried out the operation.

Mousavi said while Iran supports the people of Yemen and their rights, such claims simply do not hold any weight. He said Yemenis will not just sit idly by as Saudi Arabia keeps destroying their nation.

PressTV-Houthis warn foreigners to leave Saudi Aramco's plants

Yemen's Houthi movement says Saudi Aramco's oil processing plants are still a target and can be attacked at "any moment", warning foreigners to leave the area.

"Yemen has been struggling with a bloody war and the Saudi-led coalition has committed widespread atrocities against the Yemeni nation with full support from Western countries," he said. "It is only natural if Yemenis and their army react to these atrocities."

Mousavi argued that such allegations are aimed at making Saudi Arabia and other countries further dependent on the United States.

"The dependent nations remain dependent and those who are supposed to milk them make such baseless statements to give these dependent nations a sense of security," the Iranian diplomat said.

The United States, under President Donald Trump, has been running a campaign of maximum pressure against Iran since he abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and six world powers.

More than a year later, after his failure to force Iran into renegotiating the deal, Trump and other US officials have been sending mixed signals about their willingness to sit down for talks with their Iranian counterparts.

Iran rules out Trump-Rouhani meeting at UN

Mousavi on Monday made it clear that President Hassan Rouhani had no plans to meet with Trump during his upcoming trip to New York to attend this year's United Nations General Assembly.

"Neither is this meeting on our agenda nor do I think it will happen in New York," he said. "As pointed out by Mr. Rouhani, we do not meet just for the photo op and any meeting should have a certain agenda and results that are palpable."

 He also repeated Iran's previous stance that if Washington wants to return to the negotiating table, it should first return to the nuclear deal and then end its "economic terrorism" against Iran.

PressTV-Talks with US meaningless under sanctions: Iran to France

The Iranian president told his French counterpart that Iran doesn't see any point in negotiations with the US under sanctions.

Even then, all talks with Tehran would happen through the Joint Commission of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Mousavi said.

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei echoed the stance, saying in a separate press briefing that Iran is not willing to talk to a "dishonest" interlocutor under sanctions.

"If the current situation continues, there is no chance the two presidents could meet," he told reporters Monday. "From Iran's perspective, ending all sanctions that the US has imposed on Iran after leaving the JCPOA is a key condition to establish constructive diplomacy."

He said removing sanctions was Iran's "natural right" rather than a precondition for talks.

"We have already negotiated once under sanctions and will never negotiate again as such," Rabiei said.

"Only when Trump does what is necessary and regains our trust and respects the Iranian nation," will Iran return to negotiations through the existing P5+1 channels, he added.

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