TEHRAN, April 9, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - President Masoud Pezeshkian said Wednesday Iran has no objection to American investors doing business in the country but the country firmly opposes any attempts at regime change or foreign interference.

"The leader has no objection to the presence of American investors in the country," Pezeshkian said of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a speech broadcast on state television.

"We oppose their flawed policies, such as conspiracies and attempts at regime change."

Iran has had no diplomatic relations with Washington since 1980, but is set to hold nuclear talks with US officials in Oman on Saturday.

The talks follow a letter sent by US President Donald Trump on March 7, urging Khamenei to resume nuclear negotiations and warning of possible military action if Iran refuses.

Tehran responded weeks later, saying it was open to indirect negotiations and dismissed the possibility of direct talks as long as the United States maintains its "maximum pressure" policy.

"The leader said that we are ready to negotiate, but not in direct negotiations because we do not trust them," Pezeshkian said.

Iran has long viewed Washington as being behind attempts to interfere in and destabilise its government since the 1979 Islamic revolution which toppled the US-backed Pahlavi dynasty.

Ties have remained frozen ever since, with any contacts made via the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which represents American interests in the country, or through intermediaries such as Oman.

In December 2024, then US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said attempts at regime change in Iran "have not exactly been resounding successes".
 
Since returning to the White House for a second term in January, Trump has reinstated his "maximum pressure" sanctions policy against Iran.

During his first term, Trump unilaterally withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and reimposed sweeping economic sanctions.

Tehran adhered to the 2015 deal for a year after Washington withdrew from it, but later began rolling back its own commitments.
After signing the accord in 2015, Khamenei said the United States had sought "to use these negotiations and this agreement to find a way to infiltrate the country".

"We have closed this path and we will close it decisively," he said.
"We will not allow American economic infiltration into our country, nor their political infiltration, nor their political presence, nor their cultural infiltration."