Iran’s Enemy Untrustworthy, Senior Cleric Cautions
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian cleric called on Iran’s nuclear negotiators to be aware that the country’s enemy is spiteful and unreliable.
Addressing a large congregation of people in Tehran on Friday, Tehran’s Provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami said that in talks with the other side, the Iranian negotiating officials should bear in mind that the enemy is "spiteful and untrustworthy."
He urged the negotiators to stand firm (in defending Iran’s rights) even on the battlefield of rhetoric.
The cleric said that after signing the Geneva deal with Iran, the Western powers were supposed to tone down their anti-Iran rhetoric but since then “we have seen at least three new sanctions (imposed on Iran) and 15 military threats made by them against the Islamic Republic”.
Iran and the Group 5+1 (the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany) in November last year signed an interim deal, known as Geneva Agreement, on Tehran’s nuclear case.
Based on the interim deal (the Joint Plan of Action), the world powers agreed to suspend some non-essential sanctions and to impose no new nuclear-related bans in return for Tehran's decision to suspend its 20% enrichment for a period of six months.
The two sides wrapped up their latest round of high-level nuclear talks in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on April 9.
There will be a fresh round of high-level talks between Iran and the sextet in Vienna beginning on May 13.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Ayatollah Khatami referred to the recent decision by a US court to seize the assets of Alavi Foundation, an Iranian charitable organization in New York City, and described the move as "illegal."
The American prosecutors have raised money laundering charges against Alavi Foundation, arguing it is linked to Iran. They seek to confiscate the 36-storey 650 Fifth Avenue skyscraper which is jointly owned by Alavi Foundation and Assa Corporation.
Ayatollah Khatami further pointed to the US administrations' anti-Iran policies and said that "from (former American president Jimmy) Carter to (current US president Barack) Obama, they have all sought to overthrow the Islamic Establishment (in Iran)” but have failed.
These comments came on the 34th anniversary of a failed US operation in Tabas Desert, east of Iran.
On April 25, 1980, when Carter was in the White House, the United States launched Operation Eagle Claw in an attempt to rescue Americans held in the Iranian capital of Tehran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
However, a sandstorm struck and brought down the US helicopters involved in the operation, killing eight American servicemen.
The US Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps were all involved in the operation.
The botched attempt brought further disgrace to the administration of former US President Jimmy Carter in the eyes of the American public.
Many believe it played a major role in Carter's defeat in the 1980 presidential election.
Iran marks the event every year as a symbol of US failure.
