Leader: No Talks With West Over Region

Date: 09 March 2018 - 22:03

News ID: ۵۰۹۳۶

TEHRAN (Dispatches) – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Thursday rejected U.S. and European efforts to negotiate over the country’s military policies in the region.
"The seditionist U.S. administration which promotes corruption asks why we are present in the region. We are already in the region. Should we take permission from you?” the Leader said.
"We should have talks with the regional states over our presence in the region. Why should we talk to you?” Ayatollah Khamenei said. "If we ever decide to establish a presence in the U.S., then yes we need to talk to you.”
Ayatollah Khamenei also slammed similar European efforts. "It is no way related to you. Why are you here (in the region)? Here is our region.”
"We, ourselves, hold talks with regional people and governments,” the Leader added.
Ayatollah Khamenei’s comments come three days after a visit by French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to Tehran, where the top French diplomat sought talks on curbing Iran’s ballistic missile program in a bid to convince the U.S. to stay in the nuclear deal between world powers and Iran.
During his Monday visit, Le Drian told top Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Muhammad Javad Zarif, that there was "still a lot of work to do” on Iran’s missile program.
Zarif countered that Europe needed to "play a more constructive role to preserve” the nuclear deal.
"And above all to put pressure on the United States to meet its commitments under the deal and not to allow it to present illogical and illegal demands,” Zarif added.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to pull Washington out of Iran’s nuclear agreement with world powers, forged before he took office, unless three European signatories help "fix” the accord by forcing Tehran to limit its sway in the Middle East and rein in its ballistic missile program.
French President Emmanuel Macron has criticized the program and raised the possibility of new sanctions.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei said enemies have been constantly plotting against the Iranian nation during the past 40 years.
"The enemies of Iran have been deliberating in their think tanks since a few months ago, making plans for the last three months of the (Iranian) year, imagining that they can finish the Islamic Republic in Esfand (which ends March 21).”
Ayatollah Khamenei noted that despite the plots, the Iranian nation is always ready to deal with any aggressor.
The Leader also praised Islam for keeping women "modest” and in their "defined roles” such as educators and mothers.
"In contrast, there has always been a deviant framework; today, that different model for women is the one offered by the West,” the Leader said.
"By promoting modest dress (hijab), Islam has blocked the path which would lead women to such a deviant lifestyle . Hijab is a means of immunity not restriction.”
Ayatollah Khamenei said, "The features of today’s Iranian woman include modesty, chastity, eminence, protecting herself from abuse by men.”
"Today, according to the western model, the most sought after characteristics of a woman involve her ability to physically attract men and appease them: one distinct image (portrayed in society) of the western woman is her nudity,” the Leader added.
"A woman can have active presence and deep influence on social arenas—as Iranian women are so influential. The features of today's Iranian woman include modesty, chastity, eminence, protecting herself from abuse by men, refraining from humiliating herself into appeasing men.”
In the West, however, "the most sought after characteristics of a woman involve her ability to attract men,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. "The western model for women is symbolic of consumerism, cosmetics, showing off for men as a tool of male sexual arousal.”
Ayatollah Khamenei said, "Today the flag of women’s identity and cultural independence is at the hands of Iranian women. Iranian women today, declare their cultural and identity independence and export it to the world while preserving their hijab.”