Iran's top leader rejects talks with U.S., urges negotiations with EU

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday said that any negotiation with the United States to solve the existing mutual problems is an "obvious mistake," official IRNA news agency reported.

Khamenei also said that negotiations with the Europeans should continue to secure Iran's interests from the 2015 international nuclear deal.

"The United States seeks to restore its status in Iran as they enjoyed before the Islamic Revolution (in 1979), and they will not accept less than that," Khamenei said in a meeting with the Iranian Foreign Ministry staff in the capital Tehran.

"The United States has basic and fundamental problem with the (Islamic) establishment," Khamenei was quoted as saying.

The U.S. disagreement with Iran's nuclear and enrichment capability, as well as Iran's regional role, is an indication of Washington's enmity with the Islamic republic, he said.

Iran's presence in the region is elemental for Iran's power and security and it is a strategic policy, he stressed.

"I have reiterated that we cannot rely on the U.S. words and even their signature, therefore, negotiations with them are fruitless," he was quoted as saying.

To press Iran to go back to the negotiation table over the internationally-recognized nuclear deal in 2015, U.S. President Donald Trump has said that sanctions on Iran will snap back in August and November.

"The first part of our sanctions will snap back on Aug. 6. These sanctions will include targeting Iran's automotive sector, trade in gold and other key metals," Brian Hook, director of policy planning for the State Department of the United States, said on July 2.

"The remaining sanctions will snap back on Nov. 4. These sanctions will target Iran's energy sector and petroleum related transactions, and transactions with the Central Bank of Iran," he added.

Following Trump's decision to quit the historic Iran nuclear pact on May 8, the United States vowed to reimpose sanctions lifted under the accord against Iran and inflict punishments like secondary sanctions on nations that have business links with Iran.

"Negotiations with the Europeans should not be cut off, but we should not wait too long for a European package and instead, we should do a lot of work inside the country," Khamenei said on Saturday.

Before Khamenei's remarks, Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Saturday that his ministry had made a comprehensive plan to help expand the country's economic bonds with neighbors as well as others.

Zarif said Iran's Foreign Ministry had also been able to foil an Israeli project to portray Iran as a threat.

He described efforts by Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to scare the world away from Iran as "cheap theatricals" that had resulted in nothing but their own isolation.

Zarif said that "war rooms" had been created in certain countries to pressure Iran, but those efforts were futile.

"We have gone through hard times," he said. "We will be able to overcome problems through cooperation and unity without suffering any harm under the guidance of the leadership and the help of the people."

Earlier, Khamenei dismissed the U.S. political and economic pressures against the Islamic republic as desperate attempts.

Khamenei said that the United States is not able to pressure Iran alone, so it has made coalitions with "disgraceful and reactionary states" in the region.

"We will increase our bond with the people day by day," he said, noting that "the hatred of the Iranian nation for the United States has been increasing day by day."

Washington's withdrawal from the landmark Iran nuclear deal was criticized across the world. Some of its major European allies have been working to prevent the 2015 deal from falling apart.