Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday that talks with the United States were "not smart, wise, or honorable", days after U.S. President Donald Trump said he would "love to make a deal" with Iran.

Negotiations with the US are neither wise nor rational and will do nothing to solve Iran’s problems, the country's supreme leader said on Friday, dismissing growing speculation that Tehran and Washington might be moving toward resuming their long-stalled talks.

That includes balancing the demands of reformists within the country who want the talks against hard-line elements within Iran’s theocracy, including the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. Khamenei noted that Trump unilaterally withdrew from the earlier nuclear deal under which Iran drastically limited its enrichment of uranium and overall stockpile of the material,