Iran’s Supreme Leader "All But Said" That Negotiations Over the Country’s Nuclear Program are Over and Iran's Ideals Include Destroying America
May 25, 2014
The Daily Caller - Iran’s
supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, all but said on Sunday that
negotiations over the country’s illicit nuclear program are over and
that the Islamic Republic’s ideals include destroying America.
“Those (Iranians) who want to
promote negotiation and surrender to the oppressors and blame the
Islamic Republic as a warmonger in reality commit treason,” Khamenei
told a meeting of members of parliament,
according to the regime’s Fars News Agency.
Khamenei emphasized that without a combative mindset, the regime
cannot reach its higher Islamic role against the “oppressors’ front.”
“The reason for continuation of this battle is not the warmongering
of the Islamic Republic. Logic and reason command that for Iran, in
order to pass through a region full of pirates, needs to arm itself and
must have the capability to defend itself,” he said.
“Today’s world is full of thieves
and plunderers of human honor, dignity and morality who are equipped
with knowledge, wealth and power, and under the pretence of humanity
easily commit crimes and betray human ideals and start wars in different
parts of the world.”
In response to a question by a
parliamentarian on how long this battle will continue, Khamenei
said,“Battle and jihad are endless because evil and its front continue
to exist. … This battle will only end when the society can get rid of
the oppressors’ front with America at the head of it, which has expanded
its claws on human mind, body and thought. … This requires a difficult
and lengthy struggle and need for great strides.”
Khamenei cited the scientific advancement of the country. “The
accelerated scientific advancement of the last 12 years cannot stop
under any circumstances,” he said, referring to the strides the regime
has made toward becoming a nuclear power.
As reported on May 19
on The Daily Caller, Iran has put up new roadblocks to reaching a deal
with the P5+1 world powers over its illicit nuclear program. The powers
are the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany.
Three days of negotiations in the fourth round of Geneva meetings
ended recently without concrete results when the Iranian team presented
the country’s new “red lines” — diminishing any hope by the Obama
administration to claim victory in its approach to Iran’s nuclear
ambitions, according to reports from Iran.
The Obama administration had
hoped that with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister
Javad Zarif showing an eagerness to solve the nuclear issue and address
the West’s concerns, there would be a possibility for a negotiated
solution. An interim agreement penned last November in Geneva was touted
as a “historic nuclear deal.”
Under that agreement, Iran, in
return for billions of dollars in sanctions relief, limited its
enrichment activity to the 5 percent level with a current stockpile of
over 10 tons (enough for six nuclear bombs), converted much of its 20
percent enriched stock to harmless oxide and agreed to allow more
intrusive inspections of its nuclear plants by the International Atomic
Energy Agency, whose inspections were limited to only agreed-upon
facilities.
The Iranian delegation last week
presented new red lines that could not be crossed, including the
expansion of the country’s research and development for its nuclear
program, the need of the country to continue enrichment, and the fact
that the country’s ballistic missile program — despite U.N. sanctions —
is not up for negotiation.
At the same time, IAEA officials
met again with their Iranian counterparts last week in Tehran to discuss
information on the work on detonators and needed collaboration by the
regime to clear outstanding issues on its nuclear program as part of
seven transparency steps Iran had agreed to fulfill by May 15, which has
yet to take place.
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