Tehran, Iran, November 2
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has ruled out the prospect of any talks with the United States over the Syrian crisis.
Speaking to students in anticipation of the anniversary of the seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran which triggered the hostage crisis in 1979, Ayatollah Khamenei said the US has proven untrustworthy especially in the post-JCPOA era by violating the nuclear agreement upon many occasions, the Leader’s website reported November 2.
“This is the reality of the US. Yet there are some, who say let’s go talk Syria, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, or even our domestic problems with the US. Is it likely that a country which does not abandon its enmity toward the Iranian nation for one second, to be able to resolve the country’s [Iran's] problems?”
A few months before he became president in 2013, Hassan Rouhani had said, “The US is the sheriff. We would be better off hammering things out with the sheriff.”
“Today it is not just me saying they are unfaithful. Our officials, even the (nuclear) negotiators themselves are saying it. Talks with the US will worsen problems rather than solve them,” said Khamenei, adding that “America’s goal is to prevent the progress of Iran.”
Iran and Syria are close strategic allies, and Iran has provided significant support for the Syrian government in the conflict.
The US, on the other hand, works with Saudi Arabia and other regional allies so support to opposition.