Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country is not pursuing nuclear weapons and dismissed US President Donald Trump’s calls for negotiations as a “trick.”

China and Russia are both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, along with France and Britain, that took part in the original 2015 Iran nuclear deal preliminary framework agreement. Trump withdrew America from the accord in 2018, setting in motion years of tensions in the wider Middle East.

This week's Farda Briefing looks at why Iran continues to reject direct talks with the Donald Trump administration while weighing its response to the US president's nuclear outreach.