Tehran- Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Friday that any compromise with the world powers over the country's rights would signal a "political decline."

"Making a compromise over the nation's rights, whether [on] nuclear or non-nuclear [issues], would be a political decline," the Ayatollah said at the Friday prayer ceremony in Tehran.

World powers have demanded Iran return to negotiations over its nuclear programme and suspend nuclear activities, particularly uranium enrichment.

"Whenever we made any retreat, the enemy became more demanding; therefore, any retreat would be a decline," added Khamenei, who, according to the constitution, has the final say on all state affairs.

Iranian leaders have several times said the country was ready to talk to the world powers and even cooperate on "global challenges" but not on the nuclear issue.

The latest Iranian diplomatic package delivered this week to the world powers reportedly did not refer to the nuclear dispute but instead dwelled on various political and economic issues.