Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei says US 'worse than all terrorists'

Iran's supreme leader has said the United States is"worse than all terrorists", and accused the country of scaring banks away from working with the country. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was speaking to hundreds of workers in Tehran, on 27 April, when he slammed the US over financial sanctions.

"I have said in full detail, 100 times, that it cannot be trusted, the US cannot be trusted. It is becoming clear now," he said. "On the paper they write that banks can go and deal with Iran. On the paper it has no value. But in practice they create such a fear in the heart of banks so that they will not approach."

Khamenei added: "Banks don't dare to approach Iran, the investor does not dare to come, foreign investors do not dare to come and invest. In practice they are doing this. This is why they are worse than all terrorists."

In 2015, the US and Iran signed a historic deal that meant many sanctions were lifted from the Middle Eastern country, in exchange for Tehran curtailing its nuclear programme. However, the supreme leader has now accused America of undermining that deal.

Iran has urged the US to do more to remove these obstacles in the banking sector a number of times. However some sanctions still remain, with banks banned from doing business with Tehran, because Washington still links the Iranian government with supporting terrorism.