U.S. Says Will Judge Iran 'By Actions, Not Words'

The United States said on Tuesday it will judge Iran 'by actions, not words' following the latest statements of the Islamic Republic's new President Masoud Pezeshkian who called Americans "brothers" and urged for the "end to animosity," TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

"Certainly we have a great fondness for the Iranian people. There are tremendous connections between the American people and the Iranian people... But when it comes to the regime, ultimately we’ll judge them by their actions, not their words," State Department's Spokesperson  Matthew Miller told a daily briefing.

If Pezeshkian wanted to show brotherhood with the United States or with other countries in the world, "the way to show brotherhood would not be through rhetoric," Miller went on to add. "It would be to stop arming and encouraging terrorist groups, to stop nuclear escalations and blocking the work of the International Atomic Energy Agency; it would be to stop plotting to kill political opponents, stop transferring missiles and drones to Russia, and ultimately to stop cracking down on the human rights of its own people," he said.

Pezeshkian was reportedly responding to a question at a news conference in Tehran early this week on whether Iran would be open to direct talks with the U.S. to revive a 2015 nuclear deal.

U.S. President Joe Biden, after taking office in January 2021, has tried to negotiate a revival of the nuclear pact which his predecessor Donald Trump exited in 2018.. However, Tehran refused to directly negotiate with Washington and worked mainly through European or Arab intermediaries.

In response to TURAN's questions during Tuesday's briefing, Miller also said that it continues to be the U.S. policy that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon. "We are committed to that"