TEHRAN – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said on Thursday that Iran will further develop peaceful nuclear capacity to preserve independence.
“We will sooner or later need peaceful nuclear energy. If we do not pursue it today, tomorrow will be late and our independence will be harmed,” he said in televised remarks.
Ayatollah Khamenei said Iran has never sought nuclear weapons despite such allegations from the Islamic Republic’s “enemies”.
“They know we are not after a nuclear weapon. We want to benefit from nuclear energy in peaceful ways. They know this, but they do not want the Iranian nation to achieve such an outstanding scientific progress and that’s why they are pressuring us,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
“You see how oppressively the enemy front is focusing on the issue of our nuclear energy. They impose sanctions because of a nuclear energy program that they know is peaceful. And whatever they may say about Iran being a certain amount of time away from producing a bomb is nonsense.”
The enemies, the Leader said, are trying to make Iranians, especially the youth, stray from the path of the Islamic Revolution by using economic pressure and a smear campaign against the pillars of the Revolution in their media.
“The enemies are using these two tools to separate the people from the establishment and to engineer people’s views and thoughts.”
The enemies, Ayatollah Khamenei added, “level accusations against the centers that play a role in the Revolution’s progress”.
Ayatollah Khamenei explained that economic pressure can be foiled through hard work at home, diplomatic efforts and neutralization of the sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic.
The Leader supported Tehran’s negotiating team in Vienna where talks have been underway among the remaining signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal to bring the U.S. back to compliance and remove sanctions on Iran.
“Diplomatic efforts by our revolutionary brothers in trying to get rid of the sanctions are also good but the main task is to neutralize the sanctions through domestic production and economic activities on the one side, and foiling the enemy’s media campaign and mudslinging, on the other,” said the Leader, referring to far-reaching sanctions imposed by former U.S. president Donald Trump and still in place.
Ayatollah Khamenei highlighted the role of the people in the victory of the Islamic Revolution.