ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The Islamic Republic of Iran announced Thursday that it has responded to a letter from US President Donald Trump, which urged Tehran to enter nuclear talks or face possible military action.

Earlier this month, Trump said that he had written a letter to the Iranian leadership pressing them for talks over the nuclear issue and threatening military action in the absence of an entry into negotiations.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected the idea of engaging in negotiations with the US on the nuclear issue, calling Washington’s proposal for talks “a deception of public opinion.”

"This official response includes a letter in which our position regarding the current situation and Mr. Trump's letter has been fully explained to the other party,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told the country’s state media IRNA news agency, adding the response letter was delivered to Oman.

Araghchi has not provided any more specifics on the content of the letter.

The Iranian government has repeatedly said there is no possibility of direct talks with the US over the nuclear issue for as long as the US continues applying its “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.

In early February, US President Donald Trump signed a memorandum restoring his "maximum pressure" policy against Iran, which entails a series of strenuous sanctions on Tehran while also detailing a set of new economic measures against the country.

In 2015, world powers agreed to ease international sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on Tehran’s nuclear program, a deal that came to be known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The United States, under Trump’s first-term administration, unilaterally withdrew from the landmark deal three years later and reimposed economic sanctions, causing extensive damage to the Iranian economy.

Iran insists that their nuclear development efforts are peaceful. The US, however, has remained wary of Tehran’s nuclear program, suspecting that Iranian nuclear research is driven by a desire to acquire nuclear weapons.