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Iran leader suggests U.S. ties possible in future Zahra Hosseinian Iran's supreme leader said on Thursday restoring ties with the United States now would harm the Islamic state, but he did not rule it out in the future. "Not having relations with America is one of our main policies but we have never said this relationship should be cut forever," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech in the central province of Yazd, state television reported. "Certainly, the day when having relations with America is useful for the nation I will be the first one to approve this relationship." Khamenei, Iran's highest authority, also made clear Tehran would not suspend atomic work the West suspects Iran wants to master so it can build nuclear bombs. Iran says its program is aimed at generating electricity.
"The Iranian nation in 20 years needs to have at least 20,000 megawatt of nuclear electricity," he said, referring to plans to build a network of nuclear power plants in the world's fourth-largest oil producer. The United States cut ties with Tehran shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution. The two countries are at odds over Tehran's atomic ambitions and also disagree over who is to blame for the violence in Iraq. Khamenei, who like other Iranian leaders often rails against the West, suggested the example of Iraq showed the United States would remain a "danger" even if the two countries had relations. "Establishing this relationship now would be harmful for us and naturally we shouldn't follow it," he said.
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