Iran’s Ayatollah: Missile Program Trumps Talk
ICC Note: The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared on March 29 that his country would continue with its missile program rather than diplomatic relations in spite of serious opposition. Four countries, including the US, have called upon the United Nations to respond to recent missile launches by Iran, which defied a Security Council resolution. According to Reuters, the strongly-worded speech in favor of the missile program may have been motivated by the words of former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who tweeted, “The future is in dialogue, not missiles.”
03/30/2016 Iran (Fox News) – In a bold speech clearly aimed at Western negotiators and Iran’s moderate political wing, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared Wednesday his rogue nation would remain strong through its missile program — not through talks with other countries.
“Those who say the future is in negotiations, not in missiles, are either ignorant or traitors,” Iran’s spiritual leader said in a speech carried on his website.
Earlier this month, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed it test-fired two ballistic missiles Wednesday with the phrase “Israel must be wiped out” written in Hebrew on them, the latest in a string of missile tests that came at the same time Vice President Joe Biden visited Israel.
The show of force came shortly after Iran and world powers including the U.S. started implementing a deal that aims to ease sanctions on the secretive regime in exchange for the scaling back of its nuclear program. Iran’s lead negotiators were moderate president Hassan Rouhani and his administration — not the Ayatollah.
“If the Islamic Republic seeks negotiations but has no defensive power, it would have to back down against threats from any weak country,” Khamenei said Wednesday.
There was no immediate reaction from the State Department. After the latest test-launches, State Department spokesman John Kirby vowed to bring them to the attention of the United Nations Security Council, saying, “We’re not going to turn a blind eye to this and we’re not at all trying to make any excuses for it.”
Khamenei’s speech may have been sparked by a tweet from moderate former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who claimed, “the future is in dialogue, not missiles,” according to Reuters.