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Iran\u2019s \u2060President \u2060Masoud Pezeshkian has pledged not to fold to pressure from the United States after his American counterpart, Donald Trump, said he was considering limited strikes to force a deal on Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme.<\/p>\n
Pezeshkian\u2019s comments on Saturday came amid high tensions in the Gulf, with the US continuing to grow<\/a> its military presence with the deployment of two aircraft carriers and dozens of jets.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list<\/p>\n \u201cWe will not bow down in the face of any of these difficulties,\u201d Pezeshkian said at a ceremony to honour members of the Iranian Paralympics team.<\/p>\n \u201cWorld powers are lining up with cowardice to force us to bow our heads. Just as you did not bow down in the face of difficulties, we will not bow down in the face of these problems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Iran and the US resumed indirect talks on Tehran\u2019s nuclear programme in Oman earlier this month, and held a second round<\/a> in Switzerland last week.<\/p>\n Although Washington and Tehran described the talks in overall positive terms, they failed to achieve a breakthrough.<\/p>\n Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that a diplomatic solution appeared within \u201cour reach\u201d and that his country was planning to finalise a draft deal in \u201cthe next two to three days\u201d to send to Washington.<\/p>\n Crossroads<\/p>\n Al Jazeera\u2019s Tohid Asadi, reporting from Tehran, said the two countries appear to be at a \u201ccrossroads once again\u201d and that residents of the Iranian capital were watching closely for signs of diplomatic progress.<\/p>\n \u201cHow can anyone not worry about war?\u201d one woman told Al Jazeera. \u201cEven if we don\u2019t worry about ourselves, we worry about our children\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n A businessman said he believed military confrontation was eventually inevitable \u201cbecause what the Americans want is surrender, and the Iranian state won\u2019t accept that\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIf that happens, conditions will become even harder \u2013 business is already slow,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Another man was more optimistic.<\/p>\n \u201cThe US knows it can\u2019t overpower Iran,\u201d he said. \u201cThe US hasn\u2019t truly won a war in any country, say Afghanistan, Iraq or Vietnam. In the end, it will bow to Iran. People shouldn\u2019t worry.\u201d<\/p>\n Iran and the US engaged in nuclear talks last year, too, but the effort collapsed when Israel launched attacks on the country, triggering a 12-day war. The US joined in by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.<\/p>\n Trump issued new threats of military action in January following a deadly Iranian crackdown on antigovernment protesters. Tehran responded by threatening to strike US military bases in the region and warning that it could close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for oil exports for the Gulf Arab states.<\/p>\n Greatest air power since 2003<\/p>\n According to the US media, the airpower Washington is amassing in the region is the greatest since its invasion of Iraq in 2003. In the past few days, Washington has deployed<\/a> more than 120 aircraft to the Middle East, while the world\u2019s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, is on its way to join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group already positioned in the Arabian Sea.<\/p>\n