Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in response to a question about the possibility of holding a face-to-face meeting with US President Joe Biden on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly: “I do not think that such a meeting will take place. I don’t see the point in meeting or negotiating.”

He pointed out in an interview with the American CNN channel, which was reported by the Iranian Fars agency before his participation in the 77th session of the UN General Assembly, that “the new government in America claims that it is different from the administration of the former US president Donald Trump, but we don’t see any change in practice.”

Earlier, in an interview with the Qatari news channel Al Jazeera, the Iranian president said that the responsibility for the final decision on reaching a nuclear agreement lies with the United States, and stressed: “We are determined to vigorously defend the rights of Iran and its people.”

In an interview on Thursday night, Ayatollah Raisi added, “The lifting of the embargo on Iran must be accompanied by a resolution of safeguards issues, and safeguards issues must be resolved in order to advance nuclear talks.”

The Iranian president said: “Before the West asks us to stop nuclear activities, they should ask the Zionist entity, which has weapons of mass destruction.”