Iran’s Supreme Leader on Nuclear Deal Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of Iran said on Thursday that he neither accepts nor rejects the framework nuclear deal reached between Iran and world powers last week. By Reuters on Publish Date April 9, 2015. Photo by Office of the Supreme Leader. TEHRAN — Iran ’s supreme leader challenged on Thursday two of the United States’ bedrock principles in the nuclear negotiations, declaring that all economic sanctions would have to be lifted on the day any agreement is signed and that military sites would be strictly off limits to foreign inspectors. The assertions by the leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei , could be tactical, intended to give both the negotiators and himself some political space to get hard-liners and others slowly accustomed to the framework of a deal with the United […]