Ayatollah Khamenei:

Collapse of Political Ethics in U.S. Exposed

Date: 13 March 2015 - 20:10

News ID: ۱۲۰۰۹

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has urged Iranian negotiators in the nuclear talks with the P5+1 group of world powers to exercise vigilance over the subterfuge of the other side.
"The team assigned by President (Hassan Rouhani) to attend the talks constitute good, reliable and sympathetic individuals who are trying to secure the country's interests," said the Leader on Thursday in a meeting with the members of the Assembly of Experts.
Iranian officials "know what they are doing and they also know how to act in case of an agreement so that Americans cannot break it later", said Ayatollah Khamenei.
Nevertheless, the Leader expressed misgivings over potential duplicity by the P5+1 in the negotiations.
"Some think that the United States does not need to act cunningly or do tricks because of its political, economic and military power,” the Leader said. "But the Americans need to use tricks, deception and backstabbing a lot, and they are doing the same now, and this reality worries us.”
The Leader also denounced an open letter by 47 Republican senators to Iran, warning that any nuclear deal with the Obama administration could be reversed.
The letter, the Leader said, is a sign of "the collapse of political ethics and the U.S. system’s internal disintegration”, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Ayatollah Khamenei said states typically remain loyal to their commitments even if governments change, "but American senators officially announced the commitment will be null and void after this government leaves office. Isn’t this the ultimate degree of the collapse of political ethics and the U.S. system’s internal disintegration?”
The Leader said that whenever the talks approach a deadline, "the tone of the other party, particularly the Americans, becomes harsher, harder and more violent. This is part of their tricks and deceits”.
Ayatollah Khamenei then lashed out at the White House for accusing Tehran of terrorism, dismissing the accusation as "ludicrous, cheap and disgusting”.
Elsewhere in the remarks, the Leader took a swipe at efforts aimed at tarnishing the image of Islam, saying "Islamophobia will backfire” and, instead, put Islam at the center of attention for people around the world.
Ayatollah Khamenei noted that pure Islam, which supports the oppressed and is against oppression and reactionary attitudes, should be introduced and promoted.
The Leader said a "Zionist clown” had delivered a speech in Washington, an apparent reference to Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to U.S. Congress earlier this month, in which he argued against the emerging nuclear agreement.
Ayatollah Khamenei also repeated a call for Iran's economy to diversify away from oil revenues to reduce the effectiveness of international sanctions isolating the oil sector. "If the country and economy were not dependent on oil revenues... could the enemy harm us with sanctions?"
On Wednesday, President Barack Obama extended Washington’s decades-old "state of emergency" with respect to Iran that keeps sanctions against the Islamic Republic in place for one more year.
Obama informed Capitol Hill that he was continuing the "state of emergency" against Iran because the crisis in Tehran-Washington relations "has not been resolved”.
?The state of emergency has been in place since 1979 when Tehran and Washington severed diplomatic ties.
"…certain actions and policies of the government of Iran continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States,” Obama claimed in a notice to Congress.
"For these reasons, I have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency declared with respect to Iran and to maintain in force comprehensive sanctions,” Obama wrote.
The state of emergency forms the basis for most U.S. sanctions against Iran. The extension came at a time when Tehran and the P5+1 are seeking to seal a comprehensive nuclear deal by July 1.