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2nd LD: Iran will not converse with U.S. beyond nuclear subject: supreme leader

Xinhua, September 9, 2015 Adjust font size:

Iran will not discuss global and regional issues with the United States following the nuclear deal, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday.

"We agreed on discussions with the United States only concerning Iran's nuclear issue for specific reasons. We have not permitted Iranian officials to negotiate with the United States in other areas and we will not talk to them," Khamenei was quoted as saying by state IRIB TV.

The comments by Khamenei came in the context of President Rouhani's remarks Tuesday that Iran was ready to talk with any country and power, including the United States, regarding peace in Syria.

Negotiations with the United States is "a tool of influence and imposition of their will" on Iran, said the supreme leader.

He criticized several Iranian politicians and political groups on grounds that "they want to portray a beneficent side to America's fiendish image," according to the leader's website.

"We will not allow our adversary, which Iran already kicked out the door, to reappear through the window," he said.

Khamenei added that the stronger the country becomes, the more frustrated the United States will be concerning its complicity and enmity towards Iran.

Means of strengthening Iran include "a strong and resilient economy," "advanced progressive science" and "the youth's revolutionary spirit."

"We are willing to talk and cooperate with any country at governmental, religious and ethnic levels except our archenemy, America," he concluded.

The United States severed diplomatic relations with Iran on April 7, 1980, after a group of Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran and captured some 60 U.S. diplomats in 1979, 52 of whom remained in captivity for 444 days as hostages.

Following the historic nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in July, the former U.S. embassy's wall in Tehran has become a site to show hostility depicting various sentiments towards Uncle Sam's presence in Iran.

Several days after the "Death to America" graffiti was painted over on the eastern wall, it resurfaced only to reveal the hostilities amongst Iranian citizens over relations with the United States. Endit