Iran’s Rouhani accuses US of trying to change clerical establishment

"Iran is in economic and psychological war with America and its allies. Their aim is to change the regime but their wish will not come true," Rouhani said in a speech in the northern province of Gilan.

Iran's Hassan Rouhani calls Israel a 'cancerous tumor' — Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani. (Source: Reuters)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused the United States on Wednesday of plotting to use economic pressure to overthrow the Islamic republic’s clerical establishment, and ruled out the possibility of talks with Washington.

“Iran is in economic and psychological war with America and its allies. Their aim is to change the regime but their wish will not come true,” Rouhani said in a speech in the northern province of Gilan.

U.S.-Iranian tensions resurged after President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of world powers’ 2015 agreement with Iran that curbed its disputed nuclear activity. Trump said the deal was flawed as it did not curb Iran’s ballistic missile programme or support for proxies in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq.

Washington reimposed sanctions on Iran that were lifted in 2016 under the deal. The renewed U.S. clampdown caused a crash of Iran’s currency, rampant inflation and a flight of foreign investors desperately needed by Tehran to modernise its economy.

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Iran's Khamenei rejects talks with Trump

Iran's Supreme Leader on Monday rejected U.S. President Donald Trump's offer of unconditional talks to improve bilateral ties.

The other signatories to the deal – Britain, Germany, France, Russia and China – oppose the reinstatement of U.S. financial and oil sanctions and have sought to salvage the 2015 deal by finding non-dollar ways to conduct business with Tehran.

Iranian authorities have said that Trump administration has secretly voiced a willingness to enter into talks with Iran.