Source: Reuters<\/p>\n
Posted by: Colin Bunn<\/p>\n
ANKARA (Reuters) – The United States is Iran\u2019s \u201cnumber one enemy\u201d and Tehran will never succumb to Washington\u2019s pressure over a multinational nuclear deal, Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves as he arrives to deliver a speech in Tehran, Iran, November 2, 2017. Leader.ir\/Handout via REUTERS<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n U.S. President Donald Trump broke ranks with other major powers last month by refusing to formally certify Iran\u2019s compliance with the nuclear deal. Under that deal, most sanctions on Iran were lifted in exchange for Tehran curbing its nuclear work.<\/p>\n \u201cThe American president\u2019s foolish remarks against our people show the depth of America\u2019s hostility towards the entire Iranian nation,\u201d Iran\u2019s top authority Khamenei told a group of students.<\/p>\n \u201cAmerica is the number one enemy of our nation.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the deal was reached in 2015, Khamenei has continued to denounce the United States publicly, suggesting that antagonism between the two countries since the 1979 Islamic revolution in Tehran would not abate because of the accord.<\/p>\n Iran and the United States severed diplomatic ties shortly after the revolution, when hardline students took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. Iran will mark the anniversary of the American embassy seizure on Saturday.<\/p>\n Trump has called the nuclear agreement, which was reached under his predecessor Barack Obama, \u201cthe worst deal ever negotiated\u201d and has adopted a harsh approach to Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.<\/p>\n Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gestures as he delivers a speech in Tehran, Iran, November 2, 2017. Leader.ir\/Handout via REUTERS<\/span><\/div>\n Washington has imposed new sanctions on Iran over its missile activity, calling on Tehran not to develop missiles capable of delivering nuclear bombs. Iran says it has no such plans and its missile program is solely for defense purposes.<\/p>\n The deal\u2019s other signatories, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, and the European Union say Washington cannot unilaterally cancel an international accord enshrined by a U.N. resolution.<\/p>\n Iranian officials have repeatedly said that Tehran would stick to the nuclear accord as long as the other signatories respected it. But it has warned about the consequences if the deal falls apart.<\/p>\n \u201cWe will never accept their bullying over the nuclear deal … Americans are using all the wickedness to damage the result of the nuclear talks,\u201d Khamenei said to chants of \u201cDeath to America\u201d by students.<\/p>\n \u201cAny retreat by Iran will make America more blatant and impudent … Resistance is the only option.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump also accuses Iran of supporting terrorism in the Middle East. Iran rejects that and in turn blames the growth of militant groups such as Islamic State on the policies of the United States and its regional allies.<\/p>\n Shi\u2018ite-dominated Iran and its regional arch-rival, U.S.-backed Sunni Saudi Arabia, are involved in proxy wars across the region, backing opposite sides in Syria, Yemen, Iraq and Lebanon.<\/p>\n Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Catherine Evans<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Source: Reuters Posted by: Colin Bunn ANKARA (Reuters) – The United States is Iran\u2019s \u201cnumber one enemy\u201d and Tehran will never succumb to Washington\u2019s pressure over a multinational nuclear deal, Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a televised speech on Thursday. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei waves as he arrives to deliver a speech in Tehran, Iran,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/39"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1093"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1094,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1093\/revisions\/1094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}