Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said Iran's mistrust of the United States is based on "rationality" arising from deep consideration and long experience.
"We have seen the US hostility over the years after the [1979 Islamic] Revolution and during the recent nuclear talks [that led to the July 2015 nuclear deal with major powers]," Ayatollah Khamenei said in a meeting with commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps in Tehran on Sunday on the occasion of Iran's Sacred Defense Week, according to the Leader's official website.
In Iran, the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, known as Sacred Defense, is marked on the anniversary of the beginning of the war.
Sacred Defense Week begins on Shahrivar 31 in the Iranian calendar (September 21 this year), which is the day Iraq invaded Iran and imposed a war on the country in 1980.
Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted the need to promote the "absolute distrust" of the US, noting that "unfortunately, some people are not ready to embrace this distrust and although they say the US is an enemy, deep down, they don't feel a real sense of distrust toward the US."
The Leader stressed that "an absolute distrust of the hegemonic global powers" is one of the contributing factors to the Islamic Republic's "soft power".
Ayatollah Khamenei ruled out any negotiations with the US over regional issues, saying such talks are not only pointless but also harmful, a fact elucidated to the country's high-ranking officials.
