U.S. lawmakers had already reacted poorly to the “antagonistic” speech given by Iranian president Hassan Rouhani at the United Nations General Assembly last week.

Then the office of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei literally published an infographic explaining that Khamenei’s recent and celebrated speech promoting “heroic flexibility” meant among other things “advancement and realization of the Islamic Revolution and System” and banned among other things “humility before the international powers, especially the United States. Over the weekend Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi heaped skepticism on suggestions that recent moves made by Rouhani have bridged the gap between the U.S. and Iran.

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to CBS This Morning on Wednesday to express skepticism, based on recent Iranian moves and years of negotiating experience with Tehran, regarding Iran’s overtures:

“They have done everything to make certain that you can’t trust them,” Rice said. “They hid their nuclear program for decades. They have given the international Atomic Energy Agency the runaround. I negotiated myself with the P5+1, the international negotiating team for them. You absolutely cannot trust them.”

The video is embedded below.

The CBS News piece quotes Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) backing engagement but emphasizing that it “cannot be used to buy time, avoid sanctions and continue the march toward nuclear weapons capability” and Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) calling for new economic measures “until Iran stops its nuclear drive.”

The Wall Street Journal Con Coughlin yesterday published an opinion by British journalist and author worrying over intensifying Iranian efforts to avoid sanctions, many of them undertaken in recent months, and pointing to a gap between Rouhani’s rhetoric and recent appointments made by Iranian.

[Photo: CBS News]