An Iranian senior cleric accused President Donald Trump of portraying himself as "a madman" to scare other countries, it was reported.
Ahmad Khatami, an Iranian hardliner, ruled out direct negotiations with the U.S. over the Middle Eastern country's nuclear capabilities while saying indirect talks are ongoing under Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's supervision, Newsweek reported.
Khatami accused Trump of psychological warfare, saying the president "portrays himself as a madman so that nations will fear him."
"But the Iranian people will drive him madder, because fear of the enemy has no place in our nation's code," Khatami said, IranWire reported.
While acknowledging the link between uranium enrichment and nuclear weapons capability, Khatami repeated Tehran's official claim against developing atomic bombs.
"We take our orders from Islam, not America," said the cleric, who leads Friday prayers in Tehran, according to IranWire.
Reports of Khatami's remarks came as Iran and the U.S. prepared for a fifth round of negotiations over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program Friday in Rome, with enrichment emerging as the key issue.
Oman is serving as mediator for the talks.
U.S. officials from Trump down insist Iran cannot continue to enrich uranium at all in any deal that could see sanctions lifted on Tehran's struggling economy. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi early Friday insisted online that no enrichment would mean "we do NOT have a deal."
Trump's Mideast envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Michael Anton, the State Department's policy planning director, will represent the U.S. at the talks.
The talks seek to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic, closing in on half a century of enmity.
"We have one very, very clear red line, and that is enrichment. We cannot allow even 1% of an enrichment capability," Witkoff said, Newsweek reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.