The Iran deal may have loosened Washington's ban on all contact with Tehran, but the Islamic Republic will not respect the US any more for it, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei stated Saturday.
"We have repeatedly said we don't negotiate with the U.S. on regional or international affairs; not even on bilateral issues," he said. "There are some exceptions like the nuclear program that we negotiated with the Americans to serve our interests."
"We will never stop supporting our friends in the region and the people of Palestine, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Bahrain and Lebanon," he continued, referring to the Iranian terror axis in the Middle East. "Even after this deal our policy towards the arrogant U.S. will not change."
According to Reuters, the speech was punctuated by cries of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel."
US President Barack Obama has been adamant that there is "no better alternative" to the problem of Iran's nuclear program than striking the deal, which would see the majority of a series of light restrictions on the Islamic Republic's nuclear development lift within 10 years.
He added in his defense during a long press conference on Wednesday that his "hope is that building on this deal, we can continue to have conversations with Iran that incentivize them to behave differently in the region, to be less aggressive, less hostile, more cooperative." He added, however, that "we're not counting on it."
Republican lawmakers and Israeli politicians alike have protested the deal, noting that, at best, it will delay Iran achieving the status of a nuclear threshold state while subtly condoning its heavy hand in regional terrorism.
A Pew Research Center study found on Thursday that even more Americans (62%) are concerned about Iran's nuclear program than Israelis are (53%).