Iran's Khamenei says US training terrorists in Iraqi Kurdish region
Hurriyet Daily News with wires
"Behind our western border, the U.S. is training terrorists. It is spending money and handing out weapons to be used against the Islamic republic" of Iran, Khamenei was quoted by AFP as saying in a televised speech in the western Iranian Kordestanprovince of .
Iran urged neighboring Iraq earlier this month to "pay special attention" to terrorist groups operating in its border areas, a week after Baghdad condemned the Iranian bombing of bases of the PEJAK, a breakaway faction of the terror organization PKK in northern Iraq.
Iran
has neither confirmed nor denied reports its forces had bombed targets inside Iraqi territory.
"The Americans have dangerous plans for (Iraqi) Kurdistan ... Their plans are not aimed at defending the Kurdish people, but they want to control them," AFP also quoted Khamenei as saying in the city of Saqaz.
"Our Kurdish friends on the other side of the border have told us that the U.S. officers are paying the Kurdish youth on the Qandil hills in exchange for information," he said.
"They pay money to create mercenaries. It is unworthy of Kurdish youth," Khamenei added.
On Feb. 4, the U.S. Treasury branded PEJAK, the PKK's Iranian wing, as a "terrorist" group.
Iran and Turkey have long been fighting against the terrorist movements operated by both PEJAK and the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, including the EU and the United States.
The comments of Iran’s supreme leader are likely to disappoint the U.S. administration of President Barack Obama, which is seeking rapprochement with Iran after three decades of mutual mistrust.
Khamenei spoke a day after Obama set a rough timetable for his diplomatic initiative to Iran for the first time, saying he wanted to see serious progress by the end of the year.
Obama also held out the prospect of tougher sanctions against Tehran "to ensure that Iran understands we are serious".
Washington and its Western allies suspect Iran's nuclear program is aimed at making bombs, a charge Tehran denies. But in a break with his predecessor George W. Bush's approach, Obama has offered direct talks with Tehran to resolve the dispute.
Iran, which has repeatedly rejected the West's strategy towards it, says the United States must show a real shift in its policies towards Tehran.