Khamenei: Iran will not hold more talks with ‘Great Satan’ United States

TEHRAN, Sept. 9 (UPI) — Relations between the United States and Iran will seemingly not improve, as Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said there will not be further discussions other than on the nuclear negotiation.

Iran reached a nuclear agreement in July with the United States and five other world powers. The deal would curb Iran’s nuclear development program and put inspections in place. In exchange, damaging sanctions placed on Iran would be removed.

But Iran will not be discussing any other matters with the United States, Khamenei said.

Iran “did not and will not hold talks with [the United States] on issues other than nuclear negotiations,” Khamenei said, Iran’s Press TV reported. “We agreed to hold talks with America only on the nuclear issue and for particular reasons, and thank God, our negotiators did a good job.”

U.S. President Barack Obama won enough votes on Tuesday in the Senate to reject a Republican majority that would disapprove of the Iran nuclear deal. The president no longer needs to veto now that he’s gained enough support in the Senate to block the disapproval resolution.

Democratic Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell became the 42nd Democrat in the Senate to voice support for the Iran nuclear agreement.

Although the nuclear deal has been called historic, the decades-long antagonistic, inflammatory rhetoric between the two countries continues.

Iran has been labeled as untrustworthy and radical by many in the Republican party who strongly oppose the nuclear deal. All Republicans in the Senate were set to vote against Obama’s Iran deal.

In Iran, Khamenei echoed anti-American sentiments from former Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini by referring to the United States as the “Great Satan.”

“I have not authorized negotiations and [we] will not hold talks with them,” Khamenei said, adding that Iranians should not feel comforted by Washington’s role in removing sanctions.

“Some people insist on disguising this Great Satan as the savior angel,” Khamenei said. “The Iranian nation expelled this Satan; we must not allow that when we expelled it through the door, it could return and gain influence through the window.”