The Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday demanded that all sanctions on Iran be lifted at the same time as any final agreement with world powers on curbing Tehran's nuclear program is reached.
Khamenei, the Islamic Republic's most powerful figure and who has the last say on all state matters, was making his first comments on the interim deal reached last week in the Swiss city of Lausanne.
In remarks apparently meant to keep hardline loyalists in line, he warned about 'deceptive' intentions of the United States.
Reuters reported that the crowd chanted 'Death to America!' during the speech.
'Instant annulment of all sanction is one of the demands of our officials,' Khamenei said in a speech broadcast live on state television,' according to translations published by Reuters and the nonprofit Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
But he hedged on whether there will be a deal in place at all by the June 30 deadline.
'I neither support nor oppose the deal, since nothing has happened yet,' he said.
'All the trouble arises when the details will be discussed; it may be that the deceptive other side wants to restrict us in the details.'His stand on the lifting of sanctions matched earlier comments by President Hassan Rouhani, who said 'we will not sign any agreement, unless all economic sanctions are totally lifted on the first day of the implementation of the deal.'
These include nuclear-related United Nations resolutions as well as U.S. and EU nuclear-related economic sanctions.
'All #sanctions should be removed just when the deal is reached,' Khamenei tweeted later. 'If sanctions removal depends on another process then why [have] we started to talk?'
A senior Israeli defense official said in a radio interview after the speech that Iran could still obtain a nuclear weapon if sanctions were lifted immediately, and would have more money to spend on arming regional proxies.
'The moment the sanctions are removed, tens of billions [of dollars] will flow to their coffers,' Amos Gilad predicted.
'They will get rich. They will have the power to support the entire network of missiles and rockets.'
The U.S. State Department on Thursday repeated its position that sanctions against Iran would be removed gradually.
'Under the agreed-upon parameters, sanctions will be suspended in a phased manner upon verification that Iran has met specific commitments,' State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke said during a daily press briefing.
'We're not going to respond to every public statement made by Iranian officials,' Rathke said, 'or negotiate in public.'
Source:dm
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