SULAIMANI (ESTA) — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday the outgoing government’s experience of engaging with world powers including the U.S. shows that “trusting the West does not work”.
“Future generations should use this experience. It was made clear during this government that trusting the West does not work,” Khamenei told outgoing President Hassan Rouhani and cabinet members, according to AFP.
Khamenei’s remarks come as 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.
Iran and the United States have been holding indirect talks in Vienna on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers that imposed restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for lifting international sanctions.
Then U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the agreement in 2018, but President Joe Biden has been seeking to revive it.
Officials on all sides have said there are major issues to resolve before the deal can be reinstated.
On Monday, France’s foreign ministry said Iran was endangering the chance of concluding an accord with world powers over reviving the deal if it did not return to the negotiating table soon.
“If it continues on this path, not only will it continue to delay when an agreement to lift sanctions can be reached, but it risks jeopardizing the very possibility of concluding the Vienna talks and restoring the JCPOA,” or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, foreign ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll told reporters in a daily briefing, according to Reuters.
