Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei received on Monday a group of people coming from different ethnic backgrounds and provinces in a meeting where he criticized the general trend of JCPOA in a context of his concerns voiced over hard-hit economy of the country and economic life of the nation; “JCPOA is a prime example and practical case of the fact that negotiation with the US would prove futile; they proved once more that they are not to be trusted and would easily turn against their former promises,” said the Leader. “In advancing the country, we should rely solely on our domestic and indigenous capabilities; enemies who had been sabotaging our progress should not be an option for any plan for development.”
Leader of the Islamic Revolution praised what he believed was the unity in the face of diversity and plurality of language, race, ethnicity, and geography; “all diversity had worked to provide the country with an advantage where the nation stood out as an example of resisting the imperialist divide and rule strategy, in path to high achievements in technology and science,” the Leader told the meeting. “In a fair judgement, I could say that our achievements had been laudable compared to the past when the Pahlavi despotic rule was ‘vassal state which languished in the abysses of humiliation by the US and Britain;’ Now however, the region would envy our position the enemies see not as a subordinate small power, but as an equally great and strong regional power,” Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized. “Islamic Republic of Iran had successfully evaded all attempts to subdue the country to the consternation of all enemies.”
Elsewhere in his address, the Leader turned to JCPOA as an example of a situation where an enemy should not be trusted; “even now, our optimistic negotiators would admit that the US had been breaking its promise and beyond the sugary rhetoric, it had been busy destroying the country’s remaining economic infrastructure and our relations with other countries,” he added. “We have been reiterating the fact that the US should not be trusted, however, some circles would hardly believe this; now, after 6 months, our negotiators are unanimous in the finding,” said the Leader.
“Had it not been supposed that JCPOA should have brought about concrete changes to the lives of the public?” the Leader asked rhetorically. “The government would do great job if the US kept to its promises; if an enemy believes in its good faith, negotiation in cases would prove yielding desired results; however, this statement is negative about the US who had been without qualms in acts of sabotage and breaching promise; such an enemy would not be trusted, and for the very reason, I have systematically opposed any positive and optimistic sentiment about the US,” he emphasized, in a tone indirectly critical of the government and negotiators who had been too optimistic about the prospects of JCPOA and the its quota to bring a modicum of improvement to the economy.
Ayatollah Khamenei touched upon also immediate economic indicators of youth unemployment, recession and stagflation, and difficulties of public life; “such problems are not to be solved through friendly relations with the US and the EU; rather, a strong resolve by the government officials should help resolve the problems; there is a penchant in society to live a life of extravagance and luxury; when such false values beset the society, the ordinary people would only harvest the pains and the humiliation by members of the new class of aristocracy and the nouveau riche, a class should be strictly fought to restore the public wealth to public treasury,” he criticized the common trend in pursuing of a lifestyle which defied the large-scale poverty.
Ayatollah Khamenei finished his address by implicating the US in virtually all events in the region; he extended the criticism to Saudi Arabia who openly revealed political relations with the Zionist regime, which the Leader believed was a high treason of the Islamic world; “this is a betrayal of the Islamic ideals I believe the US is behind, since Saudi officials are puppets of the US officials; no less accomplice is the UN Secretary-General who acknowledged that the Saudi pressures and its allies had been effective in the Organization’s decision to remove Saudi Arabia from the child-killer list,” the Leader concluded.
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