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Tehran (AFP)
Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned that Washington’s hostility toward Tehran will not end with the departure of outgoing US President Donald Trump and Joe Biden assuming their responsibilities, in statements posted on his website Wednesday.
Khamenei renewed the call to work locally to neutralize the impact of harsh economic sanctions imposed by the United States, emphasizing the need not to delay if there is an opportunity to lift them.
In 2015, Iran concluded an agreement with the major powers regarding its nuclear program, which led to the lifting of many of the sanctions that were imposed on it, in exchange for ensuring the tranquility of its nuclear activities. But Trump unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from the agreement signed under his predecessor Barack Obama and reimposed tough economic sanctions on Iran.
Khamenei said today: “You saw what the United States did to you Trump and what the United States did to you Obama.”
“Hostilities are not limited to Trump’s United States and will not end with his departure,” scheduled for January 20, with the swearing in of Biden, he added.
Trump lost the presidential election last month to Biden, Obama’s former vice president, who hinted that he would “change course” with Iran.
Earlier this month, the New York Times reported that the president-elect intends to start new negotiations with Tehran after returning to the nuclear deal.
The Supreme Leader’s remarks came on Wednesday, shortly after President Hassan Rouhani confirmed that his country was “very happy” with the end of the Trump era.
Khamenei reiterated the importance of neutralizing the sanctions and that “lifting the sanctions is in the hands of the enemies, but it is up to us to neutralize them.”
“Therefore, we have to focus on neutralizing the sanctions rather than thinking about lifting them,” he added.
But the Supreme Leader emphasized that, “of course, I am not saying that we should not work to lift the sanctions, and if we can do it, we should not delay it even one hour.”
He added: “Don’t trust the promises of (others) to solve people’s problems, and don’t forget enmities.”
The Supreme Leader’s statements came when he received a delegation from Major General Qassem Soleimani’s family and the organizing committee for the commemorations of the first anniversary of his assassination.
The former commander of the Quds Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, accompanied by the deputy head of the Iraqi People’s Mobilization Authority, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was killed in a US airstrike near the Baghdad airport in the early hours of January 3. .
This meeting is the first activity announced by the guide since a member of his office confirmed last week that Khamenei was “in good health”, following rumors of his deteriorating health.
© 2020 AFP
