Khamenei seeks better ties with the world, apart from US

TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei has called for better ties with the world -- though not with the United States, according his official website on Monday.

Khamenei met President Hassan Rouhani and his cabinet on Sunday and spoke of the "necessity of developing diplomacy and relations with foreign countries," according to a transcript published in English.

"Except for a few cases -- such as the United States -- Iran’s relations with other countries, including with the West and the East, must expand and further develop." Tehran’s diplomats have been scrambling to shore up trade ties with both European and Asian powers since the US announced in May that it was abandoning the 2015 nuclear deal and reimposing sanctions on Iran.

Khamenei’s statement recalls a famous slogan from the early days of the 1979 revolution: "Neither East nor West, Islamic republic", echoing a desire to strike a path independently from the major Cold War powers.

In February, Khamenei surprised observers by saying that Iran now prioritised ties with the East over the West -- reflecting the much stronger ties it has developed with Russia and China in recent years.

Even before the US withdrawal, Iran had already been disappointed with the economic benefits of the nuclear deal as it emerged that a raft of remaining US sanctions were preventing the country from establishing international banking ties and other trade links.

He has called on Europe to give "real guarantees" that they can sustain trade with Iran despite US nuclear-related sanctions that will be fully reimposed by November 8. On Sunday, he called for "courage and determination" from the government as it faced down the threats from the US, and said economic officials were now key to maintaining "hope and morale in people".

Khamenei has called US President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century” for the Palestinian territories a “satanic” plan, saying it is a non-starter. “The Americans have named their satanic policy on Palestine ‘the deal of the century’ but they should know that, by divine grace, this ‘deal of the century’ will never materialize,” Khamenei said.

According to an Israeli intelligence website, Trump has proposed to establish a Palestinian state with limited sovereignty over around half of the West Bank and Abu Dis as its capital. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt, his special adviser for international negotiations, are reportedly the main architects of the plan.

“To the dismay of the enemies, the Palestinian issue will not be forgotten and al-Quds will remain the Palestinian capital,” the Leader told a group of officials in charge of the annual Haj pilgrimage.

Khamenei said the Palestinian people will stand against this “conspiracy,” and Muslim nations will support them. “Of course, some Islamic governments, which have no belief in Islam, have become ready-to-die followers of the Americans out of foolishness, ignorance and temporal vanity,” the Leader said.

“But by divine grace, the Islamic Ummah and the Palestinian people will win over their enemies and see the day when the roots of the fake Zionist regime will be ripped out of the Palestinian land,” he added.

Sources with access to Trump’s plan have told Israeli intelligence website that a Palestinian state would be established with limited sovereignty across about half of the West Bank and all the Gaza Strip.The besieged sliver of land, they said, would be integrated in the new state provided the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas agreed to give up its arms.