Don't Think N-Talks Will Yield Results: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

DUBAI: Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said US demands that Tehran stop enriching uranium are "excessive and outrageous", state media reported, voicing doubts whether talks on a new nuclear deal will succeed.

"I don't think nuclear talks with the US will bring results. I don't know what will happen," Khamenei said, adding that Washington should avoid making "nonsense" demands in the negotiations, four rounds of which have been held. "A date has been suggested but we have not yet accepted it," foreign minister Abbas Araqchi told state media on Tuesday when asked about a fifth round of talks, which an Iranian official said on Monday may be held this weekend in Rome.

"We are witnessing positions on the U.S. side that do not go along with any logic and are creating problems for the negotiations. That's why we have not determined the next round of talks, we are reviewing the matter and hope logic will prevail," Araqchi added.

The talks on a new nuclear deal appear on shaky ground as both Iran and the US have clashed over the issue of uranium enrichment

Deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on Monday the talks would fail if the US insists Tehran refrain from domestic enrichment of uranium, which the US says is a possible pathway to developing nuclear bombs. Tehran says its nuclear programme has entirely peaceful purposes.