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TEHRAN – Iran’s supreme leader, spurning what he described as several personal overtures from President Obama, warned Tuesday that negotiating with the United States was “naive and perverted” and said Iranian politicians should not be “deceived” into starting such talks.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Obama has approached him several times through oral and written messages. It was the second time that Khamenei, 70, who wields ultimate political and religious authority in Iran, has referred to Obama’s outreach, in which the U.S. president reportedly has requested talks between the two estranged nations.
Khamenei previously has mentioned receiving two letters from Obama. The White House has not confirmed sending letters to the supreme leader but has acknowledged a willingness to talk to Iran and said it has sought to communicate with Iranian leaders in a variety of ways.
“On the face of things, they say: ‘Let’s negotiate,’ ” Khamenei said Tuesday of the United States. “But alongside this, they threaten us and say that if these negotiations do not reach a desirable result, they will do this and that.”
The remarks came amid wrangling between Iranian officials and representatives of the United States, Russia and France over a U.N.-backed proposal aimed at resolving a protracted dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
Under the deal, Iran would ship much of its low-enriched uranium abroad for processing into fuel for a research reactor in Tehran that produces medical isotopes.
The United States and its allies see the arrangement as a way to reduce a uranium stockpile that could otherwise be used to produce fissile material for a nuclear weapon, while meeting Iran’s professed need for medium-enriched nuclear fuel for the research reactor.
During talks on the offer in Geneva on Oct. 1, Iranian officials had a rare meeting with U.S. Undersecretary of State William J. Burns and tentatively agreed to the arrangement.
But on Monday, Iran said it wanted further negotiations and more guarantees that its low-enriched uranium would be returned.
