Iran's Khamenei says negotiating with US won't end recent 'troubles'

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that negotiating with the United States would not put an end to the "troubles" that have rocked the Islamic republic over the past two months.

Iran has seen weeks of demonstrations sparked by the September 16 death in custody of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini. She had been arrested for an alleged breach of the country's strict dress code for women.

Government officials have blamed the "riots" on "foreign enemies" in the West whom they accuse of inciting law-breaking.

"Negotiating will not resolve anything," he said, in comments broadcast on state television.

"Our problem with America can only be resolved by letting that country hold us to ransom."

Khamenei said that in order to put an end to hostilities, the US wants Iran to abandon its nuclear programme, change its constitution, restrict its influence to inside its borders, and close its defence industries.

"No Iranian can accept such conditions," he said.

Khamenei also pointed to "the enormous voice of the nation that rang out" earlier this month during pro-government demonstrations, and for the funeral of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, whom the US assassinated in a 2020 drone strike in Baghdad.

"This immense crowd was the voice of the Iranian nation," he said.

Khamenei made the comments to paramilitaries who visited him as part of celebrations for Basij week.