Iran’s supreme leader said on Wednesday that his country’s hatred for the US runs deep and differences between the two nations go beyond a “few political issues.”
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments on state-run television less than a week before the US presidential elections were seen as a signal that a thaw in US-Iran relations was not expected no matter who wins Tuesday’s US election.
Khamenei said the hatred was rooted in 50 years of US intervention in Iran’s domestic affairs and hostility toward Tehran.
“The hatred of the Iranian nation is deep-seated. The reason is the various conspiracies by the US government against the Iranian people and government in the past 50 years,” Khamenei said.
He was addressing a group of students in Tehran days ahead of the 29th anniversary of the 1979 storming of the US Embassy in Tehran by militant students.
Iran blames the CIA for helping topple the elected government of Mohammad Mosaddeq in the 1950s and blames the US for openly supporting the late Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi against the 1979 Islamic revolution that led to the collapse of the dynasty.
Iranians also condemn Washington for arming and supporting then-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war from 1980 to 1988.
“This dispute [with America] goes further than differences of opinion over a few political issues,” the leader said.
Iranian political analyst Saeed Leilaz said Khamenei’s address sent a clear message that he will have to approve any efforts for reconciliation with the US.
“Khamenei wants the US and Iranian political factions to know that he will be in control of any efforts to politically restore their relations,” Leilaz said.
Leilaz said that Khamenei was also telling Iran’s political factions not to get excited should Senator Barack Obama win the US presidential race.
Iran’s government has refused to publicly side with any of the US candidates, but Parliamentary Speaker Ali Larijani said last week that Obama seemed “more rational” than rival Senator John McCain.
Obama, a Democrat, has called for direct diplomacy with Iranian leaders that he says would give the US more credibility to press for tougher sanctions — though Obama now says he’s not sure hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is the right person to meet with.
McCain, a Republican, has said he favors tougher sanctions against Iran and opposes direct high-level talks with Ahmadinejad.
The US and Iran have had no diplomatic relations since the 1979 embassy storming.
A beauty queen who pulled out of the Miss South Africa competition when her nationality was questioned has said she wants to relocate to Nigeria, after coming second in the Miss Universe pageant while representing the West African country. Chidimma Adetshina, whose father is Nigerian, was crowned Miss Universe Africa and Oceania and was runner-up to Denmark’s Victoria Kjar Theilvig in Mexico on Saturday night. The 23-year-old law student withdrew from the Miss South Africa competition in August, saying that she needed to protect herself and her family after the government alleged that her mother had stolen the identity of a South
BELT-TIGHTENING: Chinese investments in Cambodia are projected to drop to US$35 million in 2026 from more than US$420 million in 2021 At a ceremony in August, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet knelt to receive blessings from saffron-robed monks as fireworks and balloons heralded the breaking of ground for a canal he hoped would transform his country’s economic fortunes. Addressing hundreds of people waving the Cambodian flag, Hun Manet said China would contribute 49 percent to the funding of the Funan Techo Canal that would link the Mekong River to the Gulf of Thailand and reduce Cambodia’s shipping reliance on Vietnam. Cambodia’s government estimates the strategic, if contentious, infrastructure project would cost US$1.7 billion, nearly 4 percent of the nation’s annual GDP. However, months later,
Texas’ education board on Friday voted to allow Bible-infused teachings in elementary schools, joining other Republican-led US states that pushed this year to give religion a larger presence in public classrooms. The curriculum adopted by the Texas State Board of Education, which is controlled by elected Republicans, is optional for schools to adopt, but they would receive additional funding if they do so. The materials could appear in classrooms as early as next school year. Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott has voiced support for the lesson plans, which were provided by the state’s education agency that oversees the more than
The Philippine Department of Justice yesterday labeled Vice President Sara Duterte the “mastermind” of a plot to assassinate the nation’s president, giving her five days to respond to a subpoena. Duterte is being asked to explain herself in the wake of a blistering weekend press conference where she said she had instructed that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr be killed should an alleged plot to kill her succeed. “The government is taking action to protect our duly elected president,” Philippine Undersecretary of Justice Jesse Andres said at yesterday’s press briefing. “The premeditated plot to assassinate the president as declared by the self-confessed mastermind
RSS