‘No talks with US outside N-deal’

TEHRAN: Iran’s supreme leader said on Wednesday that Tehran will not expand talks with the United States beyond the international negotiations over its nuclear programme and predicted that Israel would not exist in 25 years.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s statements underscored his lingering distrust of the US and hostility toward Israel as the US Congress prepares to vote on the landmark nuclear agreement reached with Tehran in July.
US President Barack Obama appears to have secured enough support from Democrats to prevent the Republican-led Congress from derailing the deal, but Khamenei’s latest remarks were likely to be seized upon by critics of the agreement as proof that Iran cannot be trusted.
His remarks also appeared to quash any hopes of a broader rapprochement between Washington and Tehran, or future cooperation on other regional issues, including the two countries’ shared battle against ISIL.
“We approved talks with the United States about the nuclear issue specifically. We have not allowed talks with the US in other fields and we will not negotiate with them,” Khamenei said at a gathering of hundreds of people in a mosque in Tehran, according to his official website.