Iran does not trust U.S. promises on lifting sanctions and will only return to its commitments under a 2015 nuclear deal once Washington fully removes the measures, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday.
"We trusted America at the time of (former U.S. President Barack) Obama and fulfilled our commitments. But they didn’t. The Americans said on paper that sanctions will be lifted, but they didn’t lift sanctions in practice," Khamenei said in a speech on state TV. "Their promises have no credibility for us."
"On paper they said the sanctions were lifted but they told any company that wanted to sign a contract with us that this was dangerous and risky. They scared away investors," Khamenei said.
"The Americans must lift all sanctions. We will verify it and if sanctions are ... really cancelled, we will return to our obligations without any problems. We have a lot of patience and we are not in a hurry," Reuters cited him as saying.
According to Khamenei, Iranian planners should act on a worst-case scenario that sanctions would not be lifted soon.
"You should assume that sanctions will remain in place and plan the country’s economy based on sanctions," the Iranian Supreme Leader said, addressing current officials and those who might take over after the country’s presidential election in June.
