Iran Leader Not Optimistic About Talks With U.S.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, threw some cold water on recent efforts to reinvigorate diplomatic contacts between Iran and the United States, saying he was not optimistic that any agreement would be reached, though he does not oppose talks “on certain issues.”

At a meeting on Sunday with the departing president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his cabinet, Mr. Khamenei said that he did not believe that direct talks with the United States would have a positive result for Iran.

“The Americans are unreliable and illogical, and are not honest in their approach,” Mr. Khamenei warned, adding that his view was based on previous talks with the United States, often conducted secretly, on issues like Iraq.

President-elect Hassan Rowhani, who will be inaugurated Aug. 4, argued during his election campaign that it was better to talk to “the head of the village,” meaning he preferred negotiating directly with the United States rather than with its European allies.

Last week, 131 members of Congress signed a letter drafted by Representatives Charlie Dent, Republican of Pennsylvania, and David E. Price, Democrat of North Carolina, encouraging President Obama to reach out to Iran now that it has elected Mr. Rowhani.

But Mr. Khamenei, who has the final word on potential talks, said on Sunday that he did not trust American officials enough to engage in comprehensive direct talks. He did not elaborate, but a speech he made in March laid out some of his reasons for skepticism. “Despite their claims of friendship with the Iranian nation, the Americans started imposing harsh and widespread oil and banking sanctions on Iran, and they insist that they should not be considered enemies in spite of these hostile actions,” he said in a broadcast speech.

Hamid-Reza Taraghi, a political activist close to Mr. Khamenei, also mentioned the embargoes. “It is not enough for some U.S. congressmen to write a letter,” Mr. Taraghi said. “They should start lifting sanctions. That would be a real green light for negotiations.”

Mr. Khamenei and his supporters have often demanded that the United States start lifting sanctions and agree to compensate Iran for what they call historical wrongs, like the American-engineered coup d'état in 1953 and the downing of an Iranian civilian airliner in 1988. Still Mr. Khamenei, who has been Iran’s top leader since 1989, has allowed some deals to be negotiated, including support and intelligence for the American-led fight against the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 and the formation of governments in Afghanistan and Iraq, people who were close to those talks said.

Mr. Khamenei emphasized in his remarks on Sunday that Iran was ready to increase its interaction with the world, one of the main election promises Mr. Rowhani made. But “if interactions with the world means we retreat from our path, this is a loss,” Mr. Khamenei said.

A person close to Mr. Rowhani’s camp, who spoke on condition that he not be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject, said that he interpreted Mr. Khamenei’s speech as supportive of the new president. “It is clear we are ready to talk, if the other side explains what the end results of such talks can be,” he said.