In his first speech since his country’s nuclear agreement with world powers was announced, the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, voiced support for the negotiators and did not criticize any details of the agreement.
Speaking yesterday after a special prayer marking the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, Khamenei concluded by saying that Iran had thousands of centrifuges spinning and that research and development would continue.
It is not yet certain whether the agreement struck in Vienna on Tuesday between Iran and six world powers, including the US, will be ratified, he said without elaborating.
Photo: AFP
“Whether this text will be approved or not, we will not allow them by divine help to abuse it,” Khamenei told thousands of worshipers in a speech broadcast live on state television.
The nuclear agreement will most likely be approved by the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, whose members in many ways helped Khamenei engineer the deal. It is headed by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who was one of the main promoters of the agreement.
Some members of the Iranian parliament have insisted that they should have a say on the deal. Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif is scheduled to give them a report in a closed session on Tuesday.
A resolution cementing the agreement is expected to be introduced at the UN Security Council tomorrow.
In his speech at the sprawling Grand Mossala complex in Tehran, Khamenei stressed that the agreement did not mean that the relationship between Iran and its archenemy, the US, would change. The differences between the two nations remain vast, he said.
“Their actions in the region are 180 degrees different from ours,” the 75-year-old ayatollah said.
In his speech, he praised Iran’s annual anti-Israel rally, known as Quds Day, and said that the slogans of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” were still reverberating in all the cities of the country. Worshipers responded by repeating the slogans.
Regardless of whether there is a deal, Khamenei said, do not expect any change in Iran’s policies in the region.
“Whether this agreement is approved or not, we will not stop supporting our regional friends,” he said.
“We will always support the oppressed Palestinian nation, Yemen, the Syrian government and people, Iraq and oppressed Bahraini people and also the honest fighters of Lebanon and Palestine,” Khamenei said.
Israel and its de facto new ally in the region, Saudi Arabia, fear what they say is Iranian expansion in the region. According to them, the nuclear agreement will strengthen Iran’s hand, potentially giving the country access to about US$100 billion in frozen funds.
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