Iran supreme leader: Biden, Trump have tarnished reputation of US

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei this week blasted President Biden and former President Trump, saying their two administrations have tarnished the reputation of the United States.

“These days, the U.S. is being hit in ways it never computed. The two American presidents — the current and former heads of state — have joined hands to tarnish the image of the United States,” according to a report by Iran’s official IRNA news agency on Tuesday.

Though Khamenei did not further elaborate, his comments mark a rare direct criticism of the U.S. presidents, Reuters noted.

On Tuesday, Iran and the U.S. held indirect talks in Vienna in an effort to revive a nuclear deal that was initially enacted in 2015. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the deal in 2018.

Iran’s top security official, Ali Shamkhani, warned in a tweet that “the path to negotiations will not be smooth” should the Biden administration continue on with a maximum pressure campaign Trump previously launched against Iran.

“Continuing maximum pressure against #Iran, current US administration has so far tried to meet the goals that Trump failed to achieve through bullying, by making unsupported promises. With this Washington’s illusions, the path to negotiations will not be smooth,” he wrote.

Neither side has yet come to an agreement on the nuclear deal, Reuters reported.