Khamenei accuses Obama of plotting against Iran
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in his new year address to the
nation on Sunday accused the US President of plotting against Iran as
crowds of worshippers shouted ‘Death to Obama!’
In his defiant outburst, the all-powerful Khamenei dismissed
President Barack Obama’s frequent offers of dialogue with Iran which
began with last year’s historic Nowrouz greeting marking the Persian new
year.
Khamenei |
Khamenei’s personal tirade comes as Tehran is locked in a stalemate
over its nuclear program, with Washington pushing for a fourth round of
sanctions against the Islamic republic.
He lashed out at the Obama administration in his speech, broadcast
live on state television, saying after last June’s presidential
election, the United States had taken a ‘worst stand’ against Tehran. He
said Obama’s offer last year of a ‘new beginning’ with Tehran turned out
to be ‘deceptive’, as he had thought at the time that it would be.
“The US Government and new administration claimed they wanted to have
fair and correct relations, wrote letters and sent messages and even
shouted through loudspeakers ‘we want to normalize relations with the
Islamic republic,’ but unfortunately in practice they did the opposite,”
Khamenei said.
“The US president called the (post-election) rioters human rights
activists. You take the side of rioters and call it a civil movement.
Are you not ashamed? You are in no position to speak of human rights.
Did you reduce the killings in Iraq and Afghanistan?” Khamenei asked
as worshippers, their fists raised, chanted “Death to Obama! Death to
America!” Khamenei, who is also Iran’s military commander-in-chief, said
that Iran ‘condemns’ such ‘arrogant’ powers.
“You cannot talk about peace and friendship and at the same time plot
and plan sedition and think that you can hurt the regime of the Islamic
republic of Iran,” he said.
A significant part of his speech focused on the controversial
re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, saying the nation’s
“enemies had plans” to derail the poll but that this was prevented by a
massive voter turn-out.
“By resorting to violence, they wanted to change the result of the
election. They wanted to trigger violence by bringing people to the
arena and by burning buses, but the Iranian nation triumphed,” the
cleric said.
“They wanted to divide the people between majority and minority, and
to spark a civil war, but the nation was alert. If they had been able to
do so, the US and Zionist regime would have sent troops to Tehran’s
streets, but they knew it would hurt them. So they spread propaganda and
supported the rioters.”
Dozens of people were killed in post-election clashes between
supporters of Ahmadinejad’s defeated rivals and security forces.
Opposition groups charge that the June election was massively rigged in
Ahmadinejad’s favour. The post-election crisis shook the pillars of the
Islamic regime and also caused divisions among the ranks of senior
clergy. Obama on Saturday reached out to the Iranian populace rather
than to their leaders.
“Even as we continue to have differences with the Iranian government,
we will sustain our commitment to a more hopeful future for the Iranian
people,” President Obama said in a Nowrouz message released by the White
House.
“Over the course of the last year, it is the Iranian government that
has chosen to isolate itself, and to choose a self-defeating focus on
the past over a commitment to build a better future.”
Obama also promised US efforts to “ensure that Iranians can have
access to the software and Internet technology that will enable them to
communicate with each other, and with the world, without fear of
censorship.”
AFP |