Cooperation between Iran and the United States is impossible as long as Washington continues to support Israel, maintain military bases and interfere in what is happening in the Middle East, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today, quoted by Reuters, writes BTA.
Khamenei's comments come at a time when the administration of US President Donald Trump is trying to increase its pressure on Tehran.
"The Americans sometimes say that they would like to cooperate with Iran. "Cooperation with Iran is impossible as long as the US continues to support the accursed Zionist regime, maintain military bases and interfere in the region," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
In October, Trump said the US was ready to make a deal with Iran when Tehran was ready, saying: "The hand of friendship and cooperation (with Iran) is extended."
The two countries held five rounds of nuclear talks before the 12-day Iran-Israel war in June, in which Washington intervened with strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites. Negotiations between the two sides have faced a number of obstacles, such as the issue of uranium enrichment on Iranian territory, which Western powers want to reduce to zero, and the risk of Tehran using it to create nuclear weapons - a plan that Tehran completely rejects.