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 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's ultimate authority, has ruled out
further rapprochement with the United States since the consummation
of a deal on Iran's disputed nuclear activity that ended years of
political and economic isolation.
The deal, reached with six major powers in 2015, led to Iran curbing
its nuclear program in exchange for a lifting of sanctions in
January. A standoff between Rouhani's government, which saw the deal
through, and Khamenei's allies who opposed it, has intensified in
the past few months.
"We are in favor of a policy of moderation ... Iran is not a threat
to any country ... Tehran wants interaction with the world, with its
neighboring countries," Rouhani, a relative moderate, said at a
gathering to mark National Nuclear Technology Day broadcast live on
state television.
"With moderation we can reach our goals faster ... Trusting or
distrusting others cannot be 100 percent ... To progress, we need to
have interaction with the world," Rouhani said.
 He wants to modernize the economy with the help of foreign
investment and wealthy expatriates. The electoral gains of Rouhani's
allies could help him push through economic reforms. But Khamenei
allies said in March that Western business delegations had failed to
deliver any benefit to Iran's economy.
Earlier this week, Khamenei said that the United States was a
"symbol of dishonesty" and it should not be trusted, emphasizing
that the Islamic Republic should be self-sufficient.
Iran has had no diplomatic relations with the United States since
soon after its 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the U.S.-backed
Shah.
INFIGHTING
Impressive gains by Rouhani's moderate allies in February's
elections for parliament and a leadership body has deepened
political infighting within the ruling elite.
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Rouhani's rivals - notably in the powerful Shi'ite clergy and
security services including the Revolutionary Guards - oppose any
political liberalization at home and normalizing ties with the West,
fearing it may weaken their longtime dominance.
"For years, we have been building power on the presumption of a
widespread war with America and its allies,” state media quoted the
commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), Mohammad
Ali Jafari, as saying on Tuesday.
"We don't welcome any war, but if the time should come for a
military confrontation..., America will not be able to do a damn
thing.”
The IRGC has test-fired ballistic missiles in recent months, drawing
criticism from the West. The United States and several European
powers said last month that the tests defied a U.N. Security Council
Resolution that calls on Iran not to test missiles that could be
tipped with nuclear weapons.
Iran's nuclear deal with the United States, Germany, Britain,
France, Russia and China was endorsed by Security Council Resolution
2231.
Tehran has repeatedly denied that its missiles are designed to carry
nuclear warheads, saying the tests are meant to demonstrate its
non-nuclear deterrent power.
(Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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