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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Tehran will not be bullied into negotiations, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had sent a letter to the country's top authority to negotiate a nuclear deal. In an interview with Fox Business, Trump said "there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal" to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. In a meeting with senior Iranian officials, Khamenei said the aim of Washington's offer for negotiations was to "impose their own expectations", Iranian state media reported. "The insistence of some bully governments on negotiations is not to resolve issues, but to dominate and impose their own expectations." "Talks for them is a path to have new expectations, it is not only about Iran's nuclear issue. Iran will definitely not accept their expectations." While expressing an openness to a deal with Tehran, Trump has reinstated a "maximum pressure" campaign that was applied during his first term to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports to zero. During his first 2017-2021 term as president, Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark deal between Iran and major powers that placed strict limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. After Trump pulled out in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions, Iran breached and far surpassed those limits. U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi has said time is running out for diplomacy to impose new restrictions on Iran's activities, as Tehran continues to accelerate its enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade. Tehran insists its nuclear work is solely for peaceful purposes.

Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) have continued their selling spree in Indian equities in March, with total equity outflows amounting to Rs 24,753 crore as of March 7, taking the total to Rs 137354 crore in CY25 so far.However, the pace of selling appears to have slowed down slightly in recent sessions, according to market experts.Dr. V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, noted that while the trend of FII selling in India continued in early March, there are now signs of slight decline in the intensifying in the last couple of days. Despite this, cumulative FPI equity outflows for 2025 have already reached over Rs 1.30 lakh crore, reflecting a sustained risk-off sentiment among foreign investors.The continued outperformance of Chinese equities has been a key factor diverting FPI flows from India.“Chinese stocks have seen big buying triggered by attractive valuations and expectations from the recent positive initiatives by the Chinese government towards their big businesses," said Vijayakumar.The Hang Seng Index has surged with a YTD return of 23.48%, significantly outperforming the -5% YTD return in Nifty, making China a more attractive bet for some foreign investors.Additionally, the recent decline in the dollar index is expected to limit the fund flows to the US, which could impact future FPI movement.Also read: Wall Street Week Ahead: Rocky US stock market faces inflation data testMeanwhile, global uncertainties, including Trump’s tariff policies, have shifted investor focus towards domestic consumption-driven sectors such as financials, telecom, hotels, and aviation, as foreign-linked sectors remain volatile.While FPIs remain net sellers, the slowdown in selling intensity could indicate stabilization in Indian equities if macroeconomic conditions improve. Investors are cautious as they watch global factors and rely on the upcoming corporate earnings to assess whether foreign investor sentiment will turn favorable in the coming months.(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)