BREAKING NEWS

Iranian spiritual leader Khamenei's Twitter account criticizes France

DUBAI - A Twitter account Iran experts believe is run by the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticized France on Sunday after Paris expressed reservations about a proposed deal to end a decade-old dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme.
A message posted in English on the account @khamenei_ir said: "French officials have been openly hostile towards the Iranian nation over the past few years; this is an imprudent and inept move."
A second tweet said: "A wise man, particularly a wise politician, should never have the motivation to turn a neutral entity into an enemy."
The authenticity of the messages, which appeared to refer to talks in Geneva that ended on Saturday night without clinching a deal to curb Tehran's nuclear program, could not immediately be confirmed.
But France has traditionally taken a tougher line on Iran than most other world powers and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has accused it of being more intransigent in talks than the United States.
Clear divisions emerged among the US and European allies on the final day of the Geneva talks as France hinted that the proposal under discussion did not sufficiently neutralize the threat of an Iranian nuclear bomb.