IRAN’S supreme leader is standing firm against reimposed U.S. sanctions, saying Monday there would be “no war, nor will we negotiate with the United States.”

“Beside sanctions, they [the U.S.] talk about war and negotiations,” Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said in a speech published on his official website.

“They talk about a spirit of war to frighten the cowards,” said Khamenei, adding that the U.S. played a “poor game” when it came to negotiations.

His comments came after the Trump administration’s first wave of reimposed sanctions kicked in yesterday, following the withdrawal of the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal earlier this year.

The 2015 Obama-era deal, agreed by the U.S., Iran, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, restricted Iran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of international sanctions.

But Khamenei’s comments also appear to contradict Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who last Monday said that Iran was willing to hold talks with the U.S. to resolve the matter — something Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton dismissed as possible “propaganda.”

European partners have stood by the deal, implementing measures to protect EU companies doing business in Iran, even as Trump warned in a tweet they would face the fallout of U.S. sanctions.

(SD-Agencies)