The Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed on Thursday “never” to permit Iran to concede to demands of its enemies.
"To entertain the idea, as desired by the enemy, that the only solution is to hand ourselves over to the enemy, is the worst act of treason towards the Iranian nation, and that will not happen," Khamenei announced in an address to tens of thousands of members of the Islamic volunteer militia Basij, which was aired live on state television.
The leader’s statements come at a time where the relations between Iran and the US are more strianed than they have been in recent history.
Advertisement
"With God's help, so long as I am alive and retain my capacities and with your help, I will never allow such a thing to happen," he said in the speech at Tehran's Azadi stadium.
The “enemy referred to in the speech often alludes to the US , which is often called “The Great Satan” and with whom the relations of the Iranian clergy has been deteriorating since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Iran’s ties with the US have strained further after the latter re -imposed sanctions after Washington withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and world powers.
Khamenei also dismissed the strength of the sanctions in his speech .
Advertisement
"Our national economy can overcome the sanctions, and, with the help of God, we will overcome them, and this defeat will signal the defeat of America and a new slap for America from the Iranian nation," he said.
When Iran took the case of the sanctions to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), alleging that the US had broken the Treaty of Amity signed between the two nations in 1955, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo after the ruling said that the treaty would be scrapped, according to a report in BBC.
"This is a decision that is, frankly, 39 years overdue," Mr Pompeo said.
In the wake of the US withdrawal from the treaty , the US National Security Adviser John Bolton labeled Iran a ‘Rogue Regime’, according to a report in The Independent.
On Wednesday, Tehran celebrated its "victory" after the International Court of Justice ruled that sanctions re-imposed after President Donald Trump pulled out of a nuclear deal put Iranian lives at risk.
But the United States insisted it was already allowing humanitarian exemptions to sanctions and, accusing Iran of seeking a "propaganda" win, announced it was terminating a treaty on which the case was based.
(with AFP inputs)
