Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei says the nuclear negotiations are “useless” and they have not eased any international sanctions on Iran so far. In a meeting with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Iranian ambassadors and international representatives, Ayatollah Khamenei accepted the recent statement by President Hassan Rohani in support of “interaction with the world” but he added that “there are two exceptions to this: the Zionist regime and the United States.”
Ayatollah Khamenei assessed President Rohani’s statements about interaction with the United States, saying: “Interaction with the U.S., except in very particular cases, is not advantageous to the Islamic Republic and could in fact be detrimental.”
He was quoted as saying: “Some of us pretended that if we sat at the table with the Americans and negotiated, many problems would be resolved. We knew it was not so; however, now it has been proven once again.”
He said that the recent direct contacts have seen the U.S. use “a harsher and more insulting tone and assume more arrogant expectations in the meetings and the public statements.”
He said, however, that he will not ban negotiations and would remain supportive of foreign minister Zarif and his delegation's efforts to resolve the disputes.
