Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei emphasized on Saturday that the nuclear accord reached with world powers will not change his country's policy towards the "arrogant" United States, adding that Iran will continue to support its allies in the Middle East including Lebanese Hezbollah and Palestinian resistance groups.
Khamenei's comments came during a televised address at a Tehran mosque and were punctuated with the usual chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel," The Washington Times reported.
"Even after this deal, our policy toward the arrogant U.S. government won't change at all," Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters, said during the speech marking the end of the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan.
He stressed that the deal was only about nuclear issues, promising that Iran "won't let foreigners interfere with our affairs."
"American interests and politics in the region are 180 degrees different to ours," he said, coming four days after the international agreement reached in Vienna in which crippling economic sanctions against Iran will be gradually lifted in exchange for verifiably curbing its nuclear program. "We have nothing to talk to America about with regard to regional and global issues. We have no bilateral issues to discuss."
Following the announcement of Tuesday's deal, overjoyed Iranians reportedly spilled onto the streets of Tehran, celebrating a chance for a new era in which they can buy American consumer goods previously unavailable due to sanctions, according to NBC News.
U.S. Congress will now have 60 days to consider the agreement before voting to approve or disapprove of it. However, members of both parties have voiced deep skepticism, and the Obama administration has been working full force to convince enough Democrats to sustain a veto from President Obama in the case Congress does vote to reject the deal.
"Whether the deal is approved or disapproved," Khamenei continued, "we will never stop supporting our friends in the region and the people of Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon."
Khamenei even seemed to poke fun at the conditions of the agreement, saying, "After 12 years of struggling with the Islamic republic, the result is that they have to bear the turning of thousands of centrifuges in the country," The New York Times reported.
Despite his defiant remarks, President Obama continued to praise the deal on Saturday. "This deal will make America and the world safe and more secure," Obama said in his weekly address. "We held out for a deal that met every one of our bottom lines. And we got it."
Comments made on Friday by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani seemed to be more in line with President Obama than with his supreme leader. Rouhani said the historic deal "can step-by-step remove bricks from the wall of mistrust" between Iran and the U.S., should all sides uphold their ends of the agreement.
"By solving the artificial crisis about its nuclear program diplomatically, a new opportunity for regional and international cooperation has emerged," Zarif said, according to NBC News.
