WASHINGTON (CBSDC) — A top Iranian official said they will not be pressured into having talks with the United States over its nuclear program.

According to The Times of Israel, Mohammad Javad Larijani, the head of Iran’s human rights council, made the comments hours after President Barack Obama was re-elected.

“Negotiations with the U.S. due to pressure is not acceptable to us,” Larijani said, according to The Times of Israel. “Negotiations with the U.S. should [be contemplated] while having the country’s interests in mind.”

Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani, Iran’s judicial council leader and Mohammad’s brother, warned that the U.S. cannot blackmail Iran into talks.

“Relations with the U.S. are not easy and after all the U.S. pressures and crimes against the Iranian people, such relations are not possible overnight,” he said, according to The Times of Israel. ”The Americans should not imagine that they can blackmail our nation by sitting at the negotiating table with Iran.”

The New York Times reported last month that the U.S. and Iran agreed to hold one-on-one talks about Iran’s nuclear program, but both the White House and Iranian officials denied the report.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly said that the Tehran regime is building its nuclear program for peaceful purposes and doesn’t intend to build a weapon.

The White House and Israel have clashed diplomatically over how to handle Iran’s nuclear program. The Obama administration wants to continue to use crippling sanctions against Iran while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to put a military option on the table.