Iranian President Hassan Rouhani sent a scathing message to members of Congress, telling them in comments made to state-run media: Back off the nuclear negotiations, because we're not talking to you.
His remarks came in response to a congressional move to force President Obama to send any nuclear deal forged with Tehran to Congress for final approval.
He said, the New York Times reported: "I declare here that whatever the U.S. Senate says and what the House of Representatives and radicals in America are after, what the mercenaries in the region say, is not related to our nation and the government. We request cooperation for cooperation, good will for good will, respect for respect."
TRENDING: America's most dangerous demographic
And then, a seeming slam at Congress: "We declare to you that we are not negotiating with the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives. The party we are negotiating with is called the P5-plus-1 group."
The New York Times reported Rouhani also asserted any pact must come with an immediate lifting of sanctions.
"Let the world, the P5-plus-1, the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, the U.S. president and the U.S. government, let everybody know that if there is not going to be an end to sanctions in this round of the talks, there is not going to be a deal."