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Khamenei Criticizes Local Parties Calling for Reducing Hostility towards US

Khamenei Criticizes Local Parties Calling for Reducing Hostility towards US

Friday, 3 November, 2017 - 08:30
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves as he arrives to deliver a speech in Tehran, Iran, November 2, 2017. Leader.ir/Handout via REUTERS

The United States is Iran’s “number one enemy” and Tehran will never succumb to Washington’s pressure over a multinational nuclear deal, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech on Thursday as he criticized internal parties calling for reducing hostility towards US.


“America’s hostility is towards the Iranian nation,” Khamenei stated.


After signing the nuclear deal in July 2015, Khamenei launched a series a warnings from the US involvement in the regime. The Iranian government headed by Rouhani faced charges by conservatives of seeking the signing of more deals with the US administration, especially regarding the nuclear dear and the ballistic missiles program.


Wednesday, Khamenei met Russian President Vladimir Putin and requested that Iranian-Russian cooperation continues in Syria to isolate the US.


Khamenei speech was delivered two days before the annual anniversary of the American embassy seizure in 1979, that severed ties between Tehran and Washington. In the beginning of Nov 1979, Iranian students raided the embassy and took 52 US diplomats hostage for 444 days before resolving the matter by an Algerian mediation on Jan. 20 1981.


He declared that the good cooperation experience in Syria shows that joint goals can be attained, stressing that Russia has become influential in west Asia and problems can be resolved without a US meddling.


“We will never accept their bullying over the nuclear deal... Americans are using all the wickedness to damage the result of the nuclear talks,” Khamenei said to chants of “Death to America” by students. He added, “Any retreat by Iran will make America more blatant and impudent... Resistance is the only option.”


Trump has called the nuclear agreement, which was reached under his predecessor Barack Obama, “the worst deal ever negotiated” and has adopted a harsh approach to Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.


Washington has imposed new sanctions on Iran over its missile activity, calling on Tehran not to develop missiles capable of delivering nuclear bombs. The deal’s other signatories, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, and the European Union say Washington cannot unilaterally cancel an international accord enshrined by a UN resolution.


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