Iran will never co-ordinate with the United States in Syria and other regional conflicts, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in remarks published on his website yesterday.
“We don’t want such a co-ordination as their main objective is to stop Iran’s presence in the region,” Khamenei said in a transcript from a speech to university students.
Iran and Russia support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s fight against armed rebels and militants, including those of the Islamic State (IS) group.
Tehran rejects any co-ordination with the US-led coalition that is also bombing the militants in Syria and Iraq.
Khamenei repeated demands for the US to stop interfering in the region and said Washington was still acting aggressively despite last year’s nuclear accord with world powers to end Iran’s isolation.
“Americans are still engaged in hostility against the nation of Iran, be it the Congress or the US administration,” he said.
Iran complains it has not benefited from the nuclear deal since it came into force in January, with international banks still fearful of doing business with Tehran due to remaining US sanctions.
“Those who believe in looking to the West for the progress of the country have lost their minds because wisdom tells us to learn from experience,” Khamenei said.
Khamenei said on Saturday night that no new oil and gas contracts for international companies will be awarded without necessary reforms.
The Iran Petroleum Contract (IPC) is a cornerstone of the country’s plan to raise crude production to the pre-sanctions level of 4mn barrels per day (bpd), and the Opec member desperately needs $200bn in foreign money to reach its goal.
Oil majors have said they would only go back to Iran if it made major changes to the buy-back contracts of the 1990s, which companies such as France’s Total or Italy’s Eni  said made them no money or even incurred losses.
The launch of contracts has been postponed several times as hardline rivals of pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani resisted any deal that could end the buy-back system, dating back more than 20 years, under which foreign firms are banned from booking reserves or taking equity stakes in local companies.
“These contracts will not be signed unless the necessary reforms are implemented in the framework of national interests,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by the Tasnim news agency yesterday.