Tehran, Aug 29 (IANS): Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country will support the people of Afghanistan, while its relations with the Afghan government will depend on Kabul's own approach towards Tehran.

"We support the people of Afghanistan. Governments come and go. What remains is the Afghan nation," Khamenei said in a meeting here on Saturday with President Ebrahim Raisi and his cabinet.

Afghanistan is Iran's "brother country," said Khamenei, criticising the USas "the source of Afghanistan's plights", reports Xinhua news agency

The Iranian leader said the current US administration under President Joe Biden is not different "at all" from the previous (Donald) Trump administration.

Regarding Iran's nuclear program, he added, the US acted "extremely shameless", withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear agreement and then "talking as if it was Iran who had withdrawn from it."

The new Iranian government's diplomacy, Khamenei said, should not be impacted by the nuclear issue, and Iran's foreign trade with neighbouring countries and "other nations" should be bolstered.