IRANIAN Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said today that negotiations with the United States “are not intelligent, wise or honourable” after President Donald Trump floated the idea of nuclear talks with Tehran.

Ayatollah Khamenei also suggested that “there should be no negotiations with such a government,” but he stopped short of issuing a direct order not to engage with Washington.

The supreme leader’s remarks to air force officers in Tehran appeared to contradict earlier remarks by him that opened the door to talks.

For months before and after last November’s US presidential election, Iranian officials appeared to be signalling that they were waiting for a message from Mr Trump on whether he wants to negotiate over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

At stake are potentially billions of dollars withheld from Iran through crushing sanctions and the future of a programme on the precipice of enriching weapons-grade uranium.

Even when signing an executive order on Tuesday to reimpose “maximum pressure on Iran,” Mr Trump suggested that he wanted a deal with Tehran.

“I’m going to sign it, but hopefully we’re not going to have to use it very much,” he said from the Oval Office. 

“We will see whether or not we can arrange or work out a deal with Iran.

“We don’t want to be tough on Iran. We don’t want to be tough on anybody,” the president added. “But they just can’t have a nuclear bomb.”

Mr Trump followed that with another online message on Wednesday, saying: “Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens are greatly exaggerated.” 

He wrote on his Truth Social platform: “I would much prefer a verified nuclear peace agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper.”

Earlier in the week, Mr Trump also said that displaced Palestinians in Gaza could be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed that the US take “ownership” in redeveloping the territory into “the riviera of the Middle East.”

Ayatollah Khamenei appeared to refer to Mr Trump’s Gaza plan in his remarks.

He said the US “sit, redrawing the map of the world — but only on paper, as it has no basis in reality. 

“They make statements about us, express opinions and issue threats. If they threaten us, we will threaten them in return. If they act on their threats, we will act on ours.

“If they violate the security of our nation, we will, without a doubt, respond in kind.”