Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei fired off a new salvo against the United States on Thursday, saying it was detested across the Middle East, just as President Barack Obama held out his hand to Tehran.
"The nations in the region hate the United States from the bottom of their hearts because they have seen violence, military intervention and discrimination," Khamenei said.
He was addressing thousands of Iranians on the 20th anniversary of the death of the Islamic republic's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and just days before the country's presidential election.
"The new US government seeks to transform this image. I say firmly, that this will not be achieved by talking, speech and slogans," he said.
Obama, who broke with former US policy of isolating Tehran, said it would be hard to "overcome decades of mistrust" but he had made clear to Iran's leaders that Washington was prepared to move forward in relations with Tehran.
Washington has had no diplomatic relations with Tehran following the seizure of the US embassy after the 1979 revolution which ousted the US-backed shah. It has also pushed for UN sanctions on Iran, spurred by Western and Israeli suspicions that the country is seeking nuclear weapons.
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