Iran’s supreme leader said on Wednesday that his country’s hatred for the US runs deep and differences between the two nations go beyond a “few political issues.”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments on state-run television less than a week before the US presidential elections were seen as a signal that a thaw in US-Iran relations was not expected no matter who wins Tuesday’s US election.
Khamenei said the hatred was rooted in 50 years of US intervention in Iran’s domestic affairs and hostility toward Tehran.
“The hatred of the Iranian nation is deep-seated. The reason is the various conspiracies by the US government against the Iranian people and government in the past 50 years,” Khamenei said.
He was addressing a group of students in Tehran days ahead of the 29th anniversary of the 1979 storming of the US Embassy in Tehran by militant students.
Iran blames the CIA for helping topple the elected government of Mohammad Mosaddeq in the 1950s and blames the US for openly supporting the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi against the 1979 Islamic revolution that led to the collapse of the dynasty.
Iranians also condemn Washington for arming and supporting then-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988.
“This dispute [with America] goes further than differences of opinion over a few political issues,” the leader said.
Iranian political analyst Saeed Leilaz said Khamenei’s address sent a clear message that he will have to approve any efforts for reconciliation with the US.
“Khamenei wants the US and Iranian political factions to know that he will be in control of any efforts to politically restore their relations,” Leilaz said.
Leilaz said that Khamenei was also telling Iran’s political factions not to get excited should Senator Barack Obama win the US presidential race.
Iran’s government has refused to publicly side with any of the US candidates, but Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani said last week that Obama seemed “more rational” than rival Senator John McCain.
Obama, a Democrat, has called for direct diplomacy with Iranian leaders that he says would give the US more credibility to press for tougher sanctions — though Obama now says he’s not sure hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the right person to meet with.
McCain, a Republican, has said he favors tougher sanctions against Iran and opposes direct high-level talks with Ahmadinejad.
The US and Iran have had no diplomatic relations since the 1979 embassy storming.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS