Imam Ali Khamenei: West Using N. Program, Human Rights Only As Excuse for Pressuring Iran

The Leader of Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei stressed the West’s deeply-rooted animosity towards Iran, and said the western powers are just using Iran’s nuclear program and human rights issues as an excuse to pressure Tehran.

“Raising issues like the nuclear issue, human rights and other subjects by the bullying powers against the Iranian nation are just some excuses as they are attempting to dissuade the Iranian nation from resistance against their bullying, but this will never happen,” Imam Khamenei said, addressing a cadets graduation ceremony at the IRGC’s Imam Hossein University in Tehran on Wednesday.

“Of course this resistance has attracted the world nations to the Iranian nation and even many governments who lack the courage to stand against the bullying powers are pleased with the Islamic Republic’s resistance and appreciate it,” he added.

Stressing that the Iranian nation has proved its capabilities in different fields and showed that scientific and social progress as well as international influence can be achieved without reliance and dependence on the US, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “The Iranian nation has chosen the right path and will continue it and a majority of the world nations are with Iran.”

The Leader of Islamic Ummah and Oppressed People Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei lambasted the arrogant powers’ media outlets for preventing the spread of news reports on Iran’s progresses and successes, and said the western officials and media are lying when they use their catch-phrase “the international community” for showing that their policies against Iran are supported by the world, “they are not the international community but are a number of arrogant powers influenced by the infamous Zionists”.

The 120-nation Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) has reiterated its support for Iran’s nuclear program on various occassions. In a recent case in March, the NAM bloc at the IAEA in a statement said Iran’s right to use peaceful nuclear technology must be respected.

The movement underlined that every nation is entitled to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

“Choices and decisions of countries, including those of the Islamic Republic’s, in the field of peaceful uses of nuclear technology and fuel cycle policies must be respected,” the statement said.

The NAM also renewed its call for turning the Middle-East into a nuclear weapons-free zone, saying the move could pave the way for global nuclear disarmament.

Washington and its western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions and the western embargos for turning down West’s calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

Tehran has dismissed West’s demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians’ national resolve to continue the path.

Tehran has repeatedly said that it considers its nuclear case closed as it has come clean of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s questions and suspicions about its past nuclear activities.