(Reuters) Parisa Hafezi and Lesley Wroughton - Iran is unlikely to normalize relations with the U.S. despite a landmark nuclear deal. Analysts and officials say that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has no intention of restoring diplomatic ties. Khamenei has continued to denounce the U.S. publicly. A senior security official in Tehran said: "How can you trust your long-time enemy? How can you do business with a partner you don't trust? We trust American people but not their government. And the deal has not changed it. Real believers in Iran's revolution and its pillars and followers of our late leader (Ayatollah) Khomeini will never accept it." Senior Iran analyst Ali Vaez from the International Crisis Group concluded: "For Ayatollah Khamenei the nuclear accord was purely transactional, not transformational....Neither President Rouhani nor any other actor in the Islamic Republic will be able to successfully challenge this vision."
2015-10-06 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive