The aggressive rhetoric of Clinton’s successor, George W. Bush, who called Iran part of an “axis of evil” prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq, made Khamenei apprehensive, and he endorsed an initiative for a dialogue with the Americans in 2003. The Bush administration, in thrall to the idea of regime change, ignored this initiative and rejected the “Big Deal” on nuclear energy negotiated with the EU-3 in Paris in November 2004 by Rouhani, who was then Khamenei’s representative and Chairman of Iran’s National Security Council.
克林顿的继任者小布什言语咄咄逼人，在美国领导的入侵伊拉克作战前夕，小布什称伊朗是“邪恶轴心”的一部分，这让哈梅内伊十分不安，后者支持了2003年与美国的对话计划。眼中只有颠覆政权的小布什政府无视这一计划，也拒绝了时任哈梅内伊代表和伊朗国家安全委员会主席的鲁哈尼提出的2004年11月与欧盟-3在巴黎开展核能“大交易”（Big Deal）谈判的建议。2005年2月正是拒绝伊朗-欧盟和协定无意中成为以内贾德为首的伊朗强硬派的福音。