Iran says cannot 'interact' with US

TEHRAN: Iran cannot "interact" with the United States as it is a country whose word cannot be trusted, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

"The first experience is that the government of the Islamic Republic cannot interact with America... Why? Because America is not committed to its promises," Press TV quoted him in English as saying.

His comments came after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday outlined 12 tough conditions from Washington for any new nuclear deal with Tehran, rather than proposing a re-negotiation of the old one.

The conditions addressed every aspect of Iran's missile programme and what the US calls its "malign influence" across the region, including support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Hezbollah and Huthi rebels in Yemen.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani compared Pompeo's comments to those made by the administration of George W. Bush ahead of the 2003 Iraq invasion.

"The era of such statements has evolved and the Iranian people have heard these statements hundreds of times, and no longer pays attention," Rouhani said.

US President Donald Trump earlier this month pulled out of the 2015 nuclear pact aimed at preventing Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon despite intense diplomatic efforts by European allies

The international community, including top US officials, said earlier Tehran had been in compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal but Trump despised it, pointing to other aspects of Iranian behaviour not covered in the pact.