March 21--REPORTING FROM TEHRAN -- Iran's supreme leader Saturday urged Iranians to support their government's efforts to negotiate a nuclear deal, even while denouncing the United States and other Western governments involved in the talks.
In a much-anticipated speech timed on the first day of Iran's Nowruz new year's holiday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said all Iranians should support the government of President Hassan Rouhani, even if they didn't vote for him in the presidential elections. Rouhani has made the negotiation of a nuclear deal with world powers a centerpiece of his administration.
Khamenei, who spoke before a boisterous crowd in the northern holy city of Mashad, also demanded that a nuclear deal end economic sanctions on Iran at its outset, rather than gradually, as the United States and five other world powers have been demanding during ongoing negotiations.
"Sanctions must be lifted immediately," Khamenei said.
He also attacked President Obama's Nowruz message to Iranians. In a video message released Thursday night, Obama appealed to younger Iranians to press their government to agree to a deal, saying it would restore Iran's ties to the world and improve their lives.
The Americans "want to turn the people against the government," Khamenei said, calling Obama's message "dishonest."
As the supreme leader spoke, a crowd chanted "Death to America." Khamenei said the rhetoric was justified, since America is behind all threats to Iran.
The comments came as Iran, the United States and five other world powers have been racing to complete the outline of a nuclear pact by month's end. The world powers would lift sanctions that have been hobbling Iran's economy if Tehran agreed to restrictions aimed at keeping it from obtaining nuclear weapons capability.
Although Khamenei was harshly critical of the West and the terms it is seeking, his speech represented a qualified support for continued negotiations, analysts said.
Ali Khorram, a former top Iranian diplomat, said in an interview that Khamenei was signaling that Iran was ready to negotiate and "if the deal doesn't happen, it is the fault of the USA."
In this way, Khamenei was seeking to balance the demands of Iran's political reformers, who are eager for a deal, and conservatives who are deeply wary, Khorram said.
The United States and the other world powers -- France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China -- have made the gradual lifting of sanctions a central demand in the negotiations. They want to be able to reinstate tough restrictions if Iran stops complying with the terms of the deal.
Iran is wary of leaving leverage over the sanctions in the West's hands. It has been pushing especially hard for a quick lifting of United Nations' sanctions on Iran.
A deal immediately removing sanctions would likely face fierce opposition in the West, Israel and much of the Arab world.
Khamenei said he was supporting the Rouhani government "as I've supported all the previous ones." He also made clear that didn't mean he would back everything the government might seek to do.
Khamenei has given Rouhani latitude to try to work out a nuclear deal because he does not want to be seen as preventing Iran from securing an arrangement that would end the sanctions, analysts say.
Yet he could distance himself later if it proved unpopular.
Khamenei took a shot at Republicans in Washington who oppose the negotiations. They "don't want the Democrats to get credit for a deal," he said.
Rouhani and his chief negotiator, foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, have both contended in comments this week that the two sides have nearly completed a deal. But they have also cautioned that there may be last-minute complications.
Rouhani warned in comments to the Iranian press Saturday that a deal would face "pressures" as it moved toward conclusion.
paul.richter@latimes.com
Times special correspondent Mostaghim reported from Tehran and staff writer Richter from Lausanne, Switzerland.
