Despite a spike in tensions between Iran and the US, the two nations won’t engage in a military conflict – but there will also be no new nuclear deal, Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said.

“There won’t be any war. The Iranian nation has chosen the path of resistance,” Khamenei said as cited by Iran’s state TV.

“We don't seek a war, and they don't either,” he added, insisting that the Americans are well aware that a military confrontation with Iran is “not in their interests.”

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The Supreme Leader also said that Tehran won’t engage in any talks on signing a new nuclear deal with Washington. “[Such] negotiations are a poison,” Khamenei said.

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A year ago, US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the landmark 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, leaving the other signees in Russia, China, and Europe in shock. The deal saw Tehran curbing its controversial uranium enrichment capacity, which could have potentially seen it developing a nuclear bomb, in exchange for the lifting of sanctions against the country.

But the US president called it “the worst deal ever” and insisted that a new accord, which would also include Tehran’s ballistic missile program, must be signed.

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Since then, Trump had been using all means to force Iran to sit behind the negotiations table by increasing sanctions pressure on the country, with oil exports being the prime target.

The US has recently deployed an aircraft carrier group near the Iranian shores and sent B-52 bombers on patrol in the Persian Gulf. However, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has assured that the buildup wasn’t preparations for war with Tehran.

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