Khamenei condemns Republican letter on Iran, bemoans US 'tricks'

Iran's Supreme Leader hit out yesterday at a letter by US Republican senators threatening to undo any nuclear deal between Washington and Tehran, saying he was worried because the United States was known for "backstabbing", Mehr news agency reported.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the ultimate authority on all Iranian matters of state, added at a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and senior clerics that whenever negotiators made progress, the Americans became "harsher, tougher and coarser".

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The letter signed by 47 Republican senators warned Iran that any nuclear deal made with US President Barack Obama, a Democrat, could last only as long as he remained in office - an unusual intervention into US foreign policy-making.

The White House has described the letter as "reckless" and "irresponsible," saying it interfered with efforts by six major powers to negotiate with Iran on a deal to prevent it from building a nuclear bomb.

Mehr quoted Khamenei as saying: "Of course I am worried, because the other side is known for opacity, deceit and backstabbing.

The clerical Supreme Leader said the letter was "a sign of the decay of political ethics in the American system", and he described as risible long-standing U.S. accusations of Iranian involvement in terrorism.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, Washington's chief nuclear negotiator, voiced "utter disbelief" at the senators' action, saying the notion that they could alter any executive accord between government leaders was "flat wrong".

The nuclear negotiations, which resume in Lausanne, Switzerland, next week, are at a critical juncture as the sides try to meet an end of March target for an outline accord, with June 30 the deadline for a detailed, final agreement.

Iran and the powers have twice extended their deadline to conclude the negotiations, which aim to place curbs on Iran's nuclear energy capacity to help ensure it cannot develop nuclear bombs. In return, Iran would secure a removal of sanctions that have severely damaged Iran's oil-based economy.

The Islamic Republic dismisses Western suspicions that it aims to develop nuclear weapons, saying its atomic energy program is only for peaceful purposes.