Iran’s Supreme Leader says pressures and sanctions will not cause any change in Iran’s calculations.
In a meeting with Iranian officials, Ayatollah Khamenei said on Tuesday that the international pressures were simply a sign assuring the Iranian nation that it is on the right path.
He stressed that the countries imposing sanctions on Iran are “a number of arrogant governments” that are using aggressive media and propaganda ploys to pass themselves off as the international community.
He stressed that the enmity of these countries betrays a fundamental opposition to the Islamic Republic system, but they are trying to disguise this opposition with nuclear disputes and claims about defending human rights.
Ayatollah Khamenei stressed that the U.S. and Israel have become weaker than in the past, claiming that Iran’s recent economic problems were qualitatively different from the economic woes of Europe and the United States.
“Iran’s economic problems are similar to the difficulties faced by a mountain climber as he moves toward the summit but refuses to stop, while the West’s economic problems are similar to a bus buried under an avalanche.”
In the past year, the EU and the U.S. have placed severe sanctions on Iran including an oil embargo and a ban on transactions with Iran’ s financial institutions.
Iran insists that its nuclear activities are peaceful, while the West remains suspicious.
Iran is now facing a steep rise in the price of food and energy. Iran’s Supreme Leader proposed policies such as “strengthening the private sector, reducing dependence on oil, the good management of consumption, making optimal use of time, resources and opportunities, and following through with plans rather than making sudden turns in policies.”
Parliament has been highly critical of the administration in recent months, indicating that the economic woes are more a result of the mismanagement of government-subsidy restructuring than international sanctions.
The Supreme Leader appeared to touch on the issue, emphasizing that playing the blame game among the branches of government was not constructive and would only result in the loss of public support.
