'Iran is not interested in negotiating with Trump' - Iranian professor Mohammad Marandi

Could you explain to me h how do you think the Iranian military strategy is now playing out? >> It's working quite well. Iran is hammering the Israeli regime in retaliation for its atrocities and its unprovoked war and it's hammering US positions across the Persian Gulf region for its atrocities and the unprovoked war.

And uh there's been no letup in Iranian responses and that is because uh Iranian missile and drone bases are all deep underground and inaccessible to the United States and Israeli regime. And that's why they take revenge on ordinary Iranians. They've been bombing Tehran and other cities, destroying homes, destroying hospitals, destroying schools, slaughtering children.

In one instance, they murdered 165 girls, young girls at an elementary school who they've been buried today. So since they cannot defeat the Iranian military, uh they take their revenge on ordinary Iranians. >> It it's clearly causing chaos in the Gulf states, particularly with the attacks on energy facilities.

Is that part of the Iranian strategy to wage economic war as well? >> No. Iran has not taken any responsibility for the strikes on the energy facilities for example in Saudi Arabia.

That could be uh something carried out by the Israeli regime. But the Iranians have told tankers that they are not allowed to leave the straight of Hormos. And uh when these Arab regimes in the Persian Gulf when they give the United States military bases to use against Iran, then there are consequences.

They cannot have their cake and eat it too. They cannot participate in aggression against Iran alongside this Epstein coalition and uh then uh sit back and say we're neutral. >> Right.

But you're you're not denying the other attacks, are you, in in other Gulf countries which do which do affect uh energy supplies and the oil price has gone up significantly. Um so so I mean that that does seem to be part of the Iranian military strategy, isn't it? I mean to try and bring them into the war and regionalize it.

No, Iran has been targeting US assets in the Persian Persian Gulf. And those assets could be anything that's linked to the United States. The United States is bombing hospitals.

The United States is bombing schools. The United States is bombing Iranian national radio and television alongside the Israeli regime. So, US assets in the Persian Gulf, they too will be attacked.

But assets that belong to the states in the Persian Gulf region, they have not been touched by the Iranians. However, if they host US forces because many of the soldiers have left their bases and been taken to hotels, the Iranians will target them. So at the end of the day, if they want this problem to end, they have to expel soldiers of the Epstein regime.

>> Now, we understand that the the Assembly of Experts is trying to appoint a new supreme leader. Could a new leader, do you think, negotiate with Trump and agree to his terms? >> No.

Iran is not interested in negotiating with Trump or the US regime. Iran is going to punish the United States and we are in the process of doing it. This regime in Washington has tried to cross a bridge that's a bridge too far and they're messing with the wrong country.

We're not Venezuela. We're not Iraq. We're not Libya.

We're not Afghanistan. And we're not Syria. This is the Islamic Republic of Iran.

And we will make sure that the United States regrets the aggression against the Iranian people and the slaughter of children and the slaughter of innocent civilians and the murder of the leader. These are crimes against humanity. And the United States and its allies have imposed the law of the jungle upon the world and they will come to regret it.

>> But but Iran is not a military superpower either. And we are seeing the vast majority of drones and missiles being shot down by air defenses. I mean you know surely Iran cannot win a military war and therefore has to go for some other kind of strategy in coming to a settlement.

>> Iran will defeat the United States. Time will tell. And our drones that are being fired are very old drones.

Our missiles that are being fired are very old missiles. They are very inexpensive and Americans are using up very expensive air defense systems. The Iranians know exactly what they're doing.

We haven't even begun using our latest technology and most of Iran's underground bases have not even been used yet. They have not even been opened up for operation. The Iranians have been planning for this day ever since the invasion of Iraq.

They knew that some at some point the Epstein regime will go after Iranians and therefore they've been preparing themselves for many years. We are fighting for our homeland and our sovereignty and our independence. And our crime is that we oppose the genocide that the British regime and the American regime and Western regimes have been supporting.

And we are on the right side of history and the United States is the aggressor and we will punish the aggressor and make it regret its crimes against humanity. What percentage of Iran's missile stocks remain? >> The vast majority.

>> Because after last year's war, it was estimated that Iran had used up around 40% of its missiles. Are you saying that was replenished in the last few months? >> Those numbers were always fake.

Those numbers are provided by the Israeli regime to the media in order to convince foolish Americans that war against Iran is simple. This war was supposed to end in a day or two. The 12- day war was supposed to bring Iran down like a house of cards.

That failed. This failed. And now the United States will have to pay the price.

And if the United States escalates, that will mean that the most sensitive region in the world, the Persian Gulf, where a quarter of the world's energy comes from, everything could be destroyed. And if that happens, it doesn't even matter if the straight of hormones is open or closed because there will be no oil or gas and there will be no tankers. For Iran, this is a fight for survival.

For the United States, this is a war of choice, a choice that has been imposed upon the American people by the Epstein class. We will expel the United States from our homeland, and we will make sure that the United States never again thinks about aggression against our country. and we will not allow the Israeli regime to behave with impunity and to continue genocide against the Palestinian people.

Isn't the truth though that a lot of Iranian people want to see this government toppled? We saw tens of thousands taking to the streets just weeks ago and many thousands of people were killed by the security forces. So, so public opinion is divided on this.

>> Don't believe your propaganda. That's silly. You I've already had an interview.

>> I' I've already spoken with your colleague. Those the people who were killed, 3,117 people were killed. Hundreds were police officers and people who were patrolling the streets as volunteers and hundreds of others were ordinary people that were murdered by these militants and these terrorists who were using weapons to kill.

In your country, if they kill a single police officer, they'll be outraged. here they killed hundreds including the volunteers. So this was no peaceful protest.

And you know quite well because I know you follow these things. In Iran on February the 12th we had millions of people on the streets of Tehran and tens of millions across the country rallying against the rioters. And on February the 11th on the 47th anniversary of the revolution we had millions of people again on the streets of Tehran and tens of millions across the country.

And as we're speaking across the country, as we're speaking now, you have millions of people in the streets of Tehran under under bombardment and in other cities under bombardment commemorating the martyr Ayat. So you can pretend all you want that Iranians want their country to be bombed, but at the end of the day, your policy makers by believing their own propaganda are going to hit their head once again against the brick wall. But this time, the price will be very high and I think it will be bring about a change in global politics.

I'm not denying that huge numbers of people have have come out in support of the government, but but from your own account of the way people have been killed and were fighting in the streets effectively um you know the the country is clearly divided to some degree and there are many people who do not support the government and I but I wonder you know often in wartime public opinion changes and the acts of an outside aggressor can change public opinion and I just wonder whether you think that might happen in Iran. No, the strong majority of Iranians, even according to polls taken by the University of Maryland, for example, in the past, I don't know if they still carry out polls, but it shows that the the strong majority of Iranians support the Constitution. And now that the United States is murdering Iranians, many of those youngsters who are on the streets who believe were who believe the fake Western narratives about human rights and dignity and freedom are watching children being slaughtered and Western media is ignoring it and Western governments are even are not even apologizing for it.

And the British and the German regime, the German chancellor says there must be regime change in Iran. The German chancellor must first apologize to the people of Iran for giving Saddam Hussein chemical weapons to use against us that killed so many thousands of people. The German regime has no credibility and is in no position to talk about Iran.

And the divisions that exist right now in your country and the United States are far greater than the divisions that exist in Iran. The people of Iran are united and we will see that the United States will fail and the United States will pay a heavy price and ultimately the emperor people will see that the emperor has no clothes. The United States bullies country after country.

It strangles Cuba. It takes the people of Venezuela hostage. It imposes al-Qaeda rule on the people of Syria.

Iran was a bridge too far. Iran will show the Americans that they're messing with the wrong country. >> What about the competence though of your security apparatus?

I mean a after the killing of the Ayatollah with so many senior figures, we have now seen that again the clerics have met in the assembly of experts building in K and that has also been bombed. I mean, does it not strike you as very odd that senior Iranian figures are still meeting in known places where they can be targeted? >> No.

No one was in that building. Why do you believe this nonsense? And senior military figures except for in the office of the leader, a number of people who were killed, no one else was killed.

And Ayat said that I'm going to remain in my house because many people who are struggling cannot leave their homes and I will stay here till the end because of these people. and he stayed and he was martyed. That's not something that your leader would ever do.

But in any case, we are seeing the Iranian armed forces effectively pushing back against the this sinister superpower of our time and against this genocidal Zionist regime that continues to slaughter people in Gaza, in Palestine, and in Lebanon. Simultaneously they're waging a war and Iran is pushing them back. At the same time we see that the government despite the maximum pressure sanctions.

We see that people have food that there are no cues. So that is pretty significant I must say. And your government which has no sanctions and has no war the regime in London is not proving to be very efficient nor very popular.

Ju just finally, I mean, the United States president and the Israeli prime minister killed the Iranian supreme leader. Will it now be the aim of the Iranian military and all its networks around the world to take their revenge on those individuals? >> What the United States did was a crime against humanity.

What it is doing is a crime against humanity. We have no expectations from the West nor the Western media. Western elites for us are a bunch of worthless barbarians.

Iranians will protect themselves. I do not know what Iran will do or its allies will do across the world, but the entire world is sick and tired of the way in which the United States and its proxies in Europe behave. They are it's a rogue regime as we speak.

They are strangling the people of Cuba. They're preventing food from getting in. I don't see any outrage in the Western media.

Why? Because the Western media is just as worthless as Western elites. >> We'll leave it there.

Muhammad Mandi, thank you very much indeed. >> Thank you.