Tehran cleric: Iran, US must cooperate to end sanctions
Senior religious figure in Islamic republic tells worshipers at Friday prayers that Tehran must 'join hands' with Washington so as to end sanctions
A senior Iranian cleric urged Washington and Tehran on Friday to "join hands" to end sanctions, local media reported, underlining the support of Iran's influential religious establishment for President Hassan Rohani's
diplomatic offensive.
Ayatollah Kazem Sedighi (Video: Reuters) (צילום: רויטרס)
Rohani made overtures to the West last week during a visit to the UN headquarters in New York and then spoke by telephone with US President Barack Obama in the highest-level contact between the two countries since 1979.
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The US lead negotiator with Iran, Under-Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, has held out the possibility of giving Iran some short-term sanctions relief in return for concrete steps to slow uranium enrichment and shed light on its nuclear program.
"We await practical measures by US officials," cleric Kazem Seddiqi told worshipers at Friday prayers in Tehran, according to Iranian television.
"The presidents of Iran and the United States should join hands and end these cruel sanctions, which have not only harmed the Iranian nation but also the American and the European nations," Seddiqi said.
Iran's parliament, controlled by political factions deeply loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also strongly endorsed Rohani's diplomatic drive on Wednesday, despite some rumblings from hardliners deeply suspicious of Washington.
Seddiqi accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of wanting to sabotage the rapprochement between Tehran and Washington and also cautioned that a US refusal to remove the military option from the table was a sign of its "insincerity".
The United States, Israel and other countries accuse Iran of using its nuclear programme as a veil for efforts to try to develop the capability to produce weapons. Iran says its programme is only for peaceful energy purposes.
Netanyahu, speaking at the UN General Assembly after Rohani, dismissed the Iranian leader as a "wolf in sheep's clothing" and said Israel was ready to stand alone to deny Tehran an atomic weapon.
Iranian negotiators are set to restart nuclear talks with world powers in mid-October and expect clear signs of relief from the sanctions in any deal to curb its atomic activities.
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