The extraordinarily warm and friendly meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran Nov. 23 dominated the front pages of Iranian newspapers. However, Khamenei also met with a number of other world leaders who were in Iran for a summit of gas exporting countries. The meetings all shared a similar topic: the United States.

In a meeting with Iraqi President Fuad Masum on Nov. 24, Khamenei warned of Iraqi disintegration at the hands of the United States. “The environment should not be such that the Americans give themselves permission to openly speak about the breakup of Iraq,” Khamenei said. He described Iraq as a “large and rich country with a thousand years of history” and warned that if disintegration happens, the smaller states will be in constant conflict.

Khamenei said that while Iraqi politicians may have calculated that relations with the United States is in the interest of the Iraqi people, “They must not give the US permission to imagine that Iraq is [America's] own property to say or do whatever they want.” Khamenei added that the Iraq of the past is different today and that the Iraqi youth “will not go under the domination of America.”

While Iran has long had concerns about US influence in Iraq, Khamenei also used meetings with the leaders of Bolivia, Nigeria, Venezuela and Algeria to criticize the United States and its policies.