Source:  http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/03/21/iran.leader.ap/index.html

Khamenei backs talks with U.S. on Iraq
Iran's top leader warns against 'bullying' in first formal meetings
Tuesday, March 21, 2006 Posted: 2328 GMT (0728 HKT) 
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tuesday that he approves of proposed talks between U.S. and Iranian officials on Iraq, but warned that the United States must not try to bully Iran.
It was the first confirmation that Khamenei, who holds final say on all state matters in Iran, is in favor of the talks. His comments appeared aimed at calming criticism by hard-liners over a major shift in policy by the regime, which long shunned high-level contacts with a country Tehran brands the Great Satan.
Khamenei spoke hours after U.S. President George W. Bush said he favors the talks. Bush said American officials would show Iran what's right or wrong in their activities inside of Iraq.
Khamenei said that if the Iranian officials can make the U.S. understand some issues about Iraq, there is no problem with the negotiations.
But if the talks mean opening a venue for bullying and imposition by the deceitful party [the Americans], then it will be forbidden, he said in a nationally televised speech in the holy Shiite city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran.
Both the United States and Iran have said the talks will focus solely on stabilizing Iraq and not deal with the heated issue of Iran's nuclear program. No time or place has yet been set for talks, though the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, who is to head the U.S. side, has proposed holding them in Baghdad.
Last week, a top Iranian official -- Ali Larijani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council -- announced that Tehran was willing to enter talks with the United States.
The announcement drew criticism from some hard-liners in Iran's clerical regime. Hossein Shariatmadari, a close adviser to Khamenei, called Larijani's statements deplorable and said holding talks with the U.S. would signal that Iran gave in to Washington.
Khamenei appeared to be weighing in to end the criticism, while insisting Iran would not bow to the United States in any talks. He said some U.S. officials had depicted the talks as if the United States were summoning Iranian officials.
I say here that the U.S. government has no right to summon Iranian officials, Khamenei said.
Khamenei is considered the leader of hard-liners in Iran who largely prevented reformists from opening greater contacts with the United States. Still, under his rule, Iran has held lower-level talks with American officials, particularly in multilateral gatherings for efforts to stabilize Afghanistan and counter narcotics, for instance.
But the Iraq talks are the first time Iran has formally agreed to hold direct meetings with the United States.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Friday that the talks could help Iraq form a government, while Larijani said Iran hopes the meetings will help lead to U.S. troop withdrawal.
Iran has considerable influence with Shiite political parties who dominate Iraq's parliament, and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said U.S.-Iranian talks on Iraq could be useful.
Bush on Tuesday told reporters that he had instructed Khalilzad to make Iran understand that attempts to spread sectarian violence or to maybe move parts that could be used for [improvised explosive devices] is unacceptable to the United States.
The Bush administration has accused Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard of smuggling bomb-making parts across the border into Iraq, though Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged last week he has no evidence Iran's government is sponsoring such activity. 
Bomb attacks have mainly been carried out by Sunni insurgents attacking the Shiite-led Iraqi government.
In Tuesday's speech, Khamenei also dismissed the threat of U.N. Security Council action over Iran's nuclear program, saying Tehran would reject any measures it considers against its interests.
Khamenei made the comments as the five permanent members of the Security Council continued to debate what action to take, with Iran's allies Russia and China resisting British attempts to draw up a sharply worded statement demanding Tehran give up uranium enrichment.
If it is against the interests of our country, we do not accept it. They threatened us with the Security Council as if the council is the end of the world, Khamenei said, adding that Iran will pursue its nuclear program and will achieve it with all its heart and soul.
The United States accuses Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge denied by Tehran, which says its program aims only to generate electricity. 
Iran has insisted it has a right to carry out uranium enrichment, a key process that can develop either fuel for a reactor or material for a nuclear warhead.