Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA) – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said the reason Western powers threaten Iran is that they are afraid of the nation’s determination.Addressing a group of East Azerbaijan’s people, Ayatollah Khamenei said the accomplishments of the Islamic Revolution have impelled the West to issue military threats against Iran, knowing that the county’s advancement would isolate the world hegemony in Islamic countries, a press tv report said.
“The Iranian people openly announce that they will stand up for their rights and will retain them since God will reprimand them if they do not do so,” said the Leader.
Ayatollah Khamenei added that although Washington is well aware that Tehran is not pursuing a nuclear weapons program, it struggles to obstruct the Iranian nation from achieving peaceful nuclear technology.
Iran has long insisted that its nuclear activities are solely for peaceful purposes; however, Western powers continue to use harsher measures against the country, rebuffing the reports that confirm the peaceful nature of the country’s nuclear program.
The US is at loggerheads with Iran over Tehran’s independent and home-grown nuclear technology. Washington has laid much pressure on Iran to make it give up the most sensitive and advanced part of the technology, which is uranium enrichment, a process used for producing nuclear fuel for power plants.
Washington’s push for additional UN penalties contradicted the recent report by 16 US intelligence bodies that endorsed the civilian nature of Iran’s programs. Following the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) and a similar report by the IAEA head in November which praised Iran’s truthfulness about key aspects of its past nuclear activities, Russia and China increased resistance to any further punitive measures by the Security Council.
Tehran says it never worked on atomic weapons and wants to enrich uranium merely for civilian purposes, including generation of electricity, a claim substantiated by the NIE and IAEA reports.
Iran has insisted it would continue enriching uranium because it needs to provide fuel to a 300-megawatt light-water reactor it is building in the southwestern town of Darkhovin.
Not only many Iranian officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but also many other world nations have called the UN Security Council pressure unjustified, especially in the wake of recent IAEA reports saying Iran had increased cooperation with the agency.
US President George W. Bush, who finished a tour of the Middle East earlier this month has called on his Arab allies to unite against Iran.
But hosting officials of the regional nations dismissed Bush’s allegations, describing Tehran as a good friend of their countries.
Bush’s attempt to rally international pressure against Iran has lost steam due to the growing international vigilance, specially following the latest IAEA and US intelligence reports.
