TEHRAN — Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
on Saturday accused US President Joe Biden's administration of making the same
demands as his predecessor Donald Trump in talks to revive a nuclear accord.
اضافة اعلان
The multilateral deal that offers Iran relief from sanctions
in return for curbs on its
nuclear program was torpedoed by Trump's decision to
withdraw the United States from it in 2018.
A last round of negotiations between Iran and the deal's
remaining parties to revive the 2015 accord concluded in June with no
resumption in sight.
"America's current administration is no different from
the previous one because what it demands from Iran on the nuclear issue is the
same thing that Trump demanded," Khamenei said in televised remarks.
He said that Biden's administration wants "the same
thing today, it's no different. (Trump) said it in one way and these (say it)
in different words."
"The Americans truly have no shame on the nuclear
issue, and even though they withdrew from the JCPOA, ... they now talk in a way
and make demands as (if) it was (Iran) that withdrew," he said, quoted by
his official website in reference to the deal by its official name, the Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action.
Khamenei made the remarks in a meeting with President
Ebrahim Raisi's newly formed cabinet, during which he acknowledged public trust
in government had been "damaged".
The ultraconservative Raisi won a June 18 election marred by
record low turnout and an absence of significant competitors.
He succeeded the moderate Hassan Rouhani, the architect of
the political opening that culminated in the nuclear agreement between Tehran
and six major powers.
A year after Trump's decision to withdraw from the deal and
impose sanctions on Iran, the Islamic republic retaliated by gradually waiving
most of the key nuclear commitments that it had accepted under the agreement.
Six rounds of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers —
with the US indirectly taking part — were held in Vienna between April and
June.
The last round concluded on June 20, with no date set for
another.
"Behind the scenes of America's foreign policy, there
is a predator wolf that sometimes changes to a cunning fox," Khamenei
said.
'Reciprocal response'
Khamenei's remarks came after a senior security official in
Tehran said Iran reserves the right to a "reciprocal response" to
Washington, after what it deemed as threats by Biden.
Biden received Israel's Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at
the White House on Friday and said the United States was committed to ensuring
"Iran never develops a nuclear weapon".
"We're putting diplomacy first and seeing where that
takes us. But if diplomacy fails we're ready to turn to other options," he
said.
Biden and Bennett's "emphasis on using 'other options'
against #Iran, in addition to being an illegal threat against another country,
establishes the Islamic Republic of Iran's right for a reciprocal response
against 'available options'," Admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary-general of Iran's
Supreme National Security Council, wrote on Twitter.
Bennett, like his predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu, fiercely
opposes the revival of the nuclear deal.
In his speech, Khamenei also called on Raisi to
"repair" the public's damaged trust in government.
"It's a great asset for a government to be able to
attract the people's trust, which has unfortunately been slightly damaged. You
must repair this."
The way to achieve this was to ensure the "words and
actions" of officials become one and to keep promises.
Iran has in recent years been hit by several protests over
the economy and living conditions made worse by punishing US
sanctions.
The latest was protests over water shortages that erupted in
July in southwest Iran, where, according to Iranian media, at least four people
were killed.
Human rights groups outside of Iran have previously accused
the Islamic republic of using force against protesters.
Iran has denied the charges and blamed violence at protests
on "opportunists" and "rioters" linked to its enemies.
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