Iran’s Khamenei says sanctions “benefit” Iran
Washington, 12 August (IranVNC)—Days after Western countries announced plans to seek further sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today said that sanctions and threats against Tehran would eventually “benefit” the Islamic Republic.
By: IranVNC
Published: Tuesday, August 12, 2008
13:00GMT—10:00AM/EST
IRAN – NUCLEAR – KUWAIT - SANCTIONS
Washington, 12 August (IranVNC)—Days after Western countries announced plans to seek further sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today said that sanctions and threats against Tehran has, at the end, “benefitted” the Islamic Republic.
Speaking alongside Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was visiting Tehran, Khamenei said: “Despite pressures, threats and sanctions, the nation of Iran and the officials of the Islamic system have achieved great progress because of their perseverance against the hegemonic system,” Iran’s semi-official ISNA reports.
“All the progress was achieved while the Islamic Republic of Iran was under sanctions and these sanctions have ended up benefitting the Islamic system,” he said.
Last week, the U.S. and Britain warned that major powers had agreed to consider further United Nations sanctions against Iran after that country failed to provide a positive response to an incentives package the six powers had offered in return for Tehran’s suspension of uranium enrichment.
The European Union announced on Friday that it will implement new sanctions against Tehran, which would go beyond the latest UN Security Council resolution on Iran. The U.S., UK, France and Germany are reported to be mulling a similar move, as China and Russia have softened previous UN resolutions against the Islamic Republic.
The Western powers fear Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran says its program is aimed at peaceful purposes including generating electricity.
The Algerian president yesterday held talks with Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Majlis [parliament] speaker Ali Larijani, who both addressed the nuclear issue following their talks.
Ahmadinejad said that his country would continue on its nuclear path, despite calls by Western powers for tighter sanctions against Tehran.
And Larijani said that Iran had shown its “best intentions” in nuclear talks with the sextet last month in Geneva, and that it was prepared to “settle the worries” of the major powers regarding Tehran’s nuclear program.
Meanwhile, Kuwait – a staunch ally of the U.S. – today called on Iran and Western countries to solve the dispute diplomatically.
“Kuwait does not take sides in any possible dispute between Western countries and [our] friend, the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Kuwaiti daily, al-Rai, quoted Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah as saying in an interview published today.
Al-Sabah added that he hoped that “things would not develop for the worse” and that “the language of reason and dialogue between all the parties” would prevail.
Kuwait, which hosts thousands of American troops, has previously expressed concern over the prospect of war in the region.
But Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Hassan Qashqavi, today sought to quell the fears of Iran’s Arab neighbors.
Speaking in Arabic in a news conference in Tehran, Qashqavi said: “To all the Arab brothers and sisters, I say we see our security as your security and your security as our security.”
Sources: ISNA in Persian, IRNA in Persian, Al-Rai in Arabic
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