Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who sits at the apex of Iran’s power structure, said that he supported Mr Rouhani’s overtures to the West, but denounced America for being “untrustworthy”.
Since assuming the presidency in August, Mr Rouhani has made clear his wish to settle the confrontation over Iran’s nuclear ambitions within “months not years”. While in New York last month, he offered “peace and friendship” to Americans and spoke by telephone to President Barack Obama for 15 minutes, the first direct contact between the leaders of the two countries since Iran’s revolution in 1979.
However, this conversation is believed to explain Ayatollah Khamenei’s criticism. America had offered a meeting between the two presidents, but Mr Rouhani is understood to have lacked the Supreme Leader’s authority to accept. In choosing to speak to Mr Obama by phone instead, Mr Rouhani was implicitly defying the Ayatollah’s instructions. » | David Blair | Saturday, October 05, 2013
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