Iran supreme leader criticizes West as nuclear talks stalled

AP , Wednesday 28 Jul 2021

Khamenei's remarks come as his hard-line protege, President-elect Raisi, is posed to be sworn in next week as the head of the country's civilian government

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
File Photo: Iranian Supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses the nation in a televised speech marking the Eid al-Adha holiday, in Tehran, Iran, taken on Friday, July 31, 2020. AP

Iran's supreme leader lashed out Wednesday at the West in his last meeting with the civilian government that struck Tehran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers, warning their experience proved that ``Westerners do not help us, they hit wherever they can.``

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's remarks come as his hard-line protege, President-elect Ebrahim Raisi, is posed to be sworn in next week as the head of the country's civilian government and as talks on reviving the deal remain stalled in Vienna.

While Raisi has said he wants to return to the accord, which saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions, Khamenei seemingly called for a more-adversarial approach in his remarks. They also appeared to describe outgoing President Hassan Rouhani's eight-year government as naive for its approach in reaching the 2015 agreement.

`Others should use your experiences. This experience is a distrust of the West,` Khamenei said in remarks broadcast by state television. `In this government, it was shown up that trust in the West does not work.'

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