Tag: Khamenei

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Iran’s Khamenei Moved to Secure Location After Hezbollah Chief Killing

Without commenting on Nasrallah’s fate, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Friday’s strikes will not be able to inflict any significant damage on the “solid structure” of Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has reportedly been moved to a safe and secure location after Israel confirmed on Saturday that it has eliminated Hezbollah chief Hasan Nasrallah in airstrikes conducted by its fighter jets in the Daha area of Beirut late Friday.

85-year-old Khamenei, a former President of the country who took over the role as country’s ‘Supreme Leader’ in 1989, has fully backed Hezbollah and Hamas over the last many decades.

“All the Resistance forces in the region stand with and support Hezbollah. The Resistance forces will determine the fate of this region with the honorable Hezbollah leading the way,” a statement issued by Khamenei’s account on X said Saturday afternoon which was his first reaction to Israel’s overnight attack on Lebanon.

Without commenting on Nasrallah’s fate, he also said that Friday’s strikes will not be able to inflict any significant damage on the “solid structure” of Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

“The Lebanese haven’t forgotten there was a time when the soldiers of the occupying regime were advancing toward Beirut, & Hezbollah stopped them & made Lebanon proud. Today too, by the grace & power of God, Lebanon will make the transgressing, malicious enemy regret its actions,” he added.

The reports of Khamenei being moved to a secure location with the country came as Israel vowed to continue its operation “New Order” to eliminate leaders of the terror organisations.

“This is not the end of the toolbox, it should be very clear. There are more tools to go forward. The message is a simple message: whoever threatens the citizens of the State of Israel – we will know how to reach them. In the north, in the south, even in more distant places,” said Israeli Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi on Saturday.

Nasrallah has been associated with Hezbollah since the group’s inception in 1982 following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. In 1992, he took over as the leader of the organisation with an aim to make it a hybrid political-military entity.

“During the 32 years of the terrorist Hassan Nasrallah’s tenure as the leader of Hezbollah, he was responsible for the murder of many Israeli civilians and soldiers, and for the planning and execution of thousands of terrorist acts against the State of Israel and around the world. Nasrallah was the main decision-maker and the sole approver of strategic-systemic decisions, and sometimes also tactical decisions in the organisation,” said Halevi.

ALSO READ: Hezbollah Chief Nasrallah KIlled in Beirut Airstrike

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American Support Essential for Survival, Khamenei Warns Israel

Khamenei went on to allege that Israel is “helpless and confused now”….writes Khamenei

In a social media post in the Hebrew language, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Friday said the Jewish nation “without American support, will be silenced within days”.

In his post on X, Khamenei said the “Zionist entity (Israel) is lying to you, and it is also lying when it expressed concern about its prisoners with the Palestinians”.

The prisoners were in reference to the Israeli hostages being held by the Hamas militant group in Gaza.

According to Israeli authorities, 242 people are currently held captive in Gaza, including Israelis and foreign nationals.

Khamenei went on to allege that Israel is “helpless and confused now”.

“And without American support (Israel) will be silenced within days,” the supreme leader added.

Escalation on the Lebanese-Israeli border began when Hezbollah fired multiple rockets on October 8 toward Israeli military sites in support of the Hamas’s surprise attack on the Jewish nation on October 7.

In response, the Israeli forces fired heavy artillery on southeastern Lebanon on the same day.

ALSO READ: Blinken Visits Israel for Ongoing Talks on Gaza Conflict

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Khamenei: Nothing wrong in n-deal with West

Iran: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei speaks during Friday prayers in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 3, 2012. (Xinhua/Official Website of the Iranian Supreme Leader/IANS)

The top leader made the remarks on Sunday in a meeting with a group of nuclear experts and officials in the Iranian capital Tehran..reports Asian Lite News

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has said there is nothing wrong with reaching a nuclear deal providing that the country’s atomic infrastructure remains “intact,” according to state media.

The top leader made the remarks on Sunday in a meeting with a group of nuclear experts and officials in the Iranian capital Tehran, commenting on the latest developments and progress of Iran’s “peaceful” nuclear programme, according to the official news agency IRNA.

He, however, stressed that the challenge Iran has faced over the past 20 years over nuclear issues has shown that the West is not trustworthy in its promises, Xinhua news agency reported.

He said past negotiations with the IAEA and some countries have shown that they failed to fulfill many of the promises they had given to Iran.

He reiterated that Iran “does not seek to move toward (developing) nuclear weapons, otherwise the enemies would not have been able to prevent it, as they have so far failed to stop our nuclear advances”.

The top leader emphasised that nuclear industry, an industry that bears great scientific importance and helps improve the people’s lives, is among the “fundamental and important” elements of Iran’s power and prestige, which is the reason why “the enemies” have focused on the country’s nuclear energy sector.

He stressed that the cooperation between Iran and the IAEA should be maintained, but the strategic law passed by the Iranian parliament in 2020 to counter US sanctions must not be violated.

The parliament’s law mandated the government to restrict IAEA’s inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities and accelerate the development of the country’s nuclear program beyond the limits set under a 2015 nuclear deal.

Khamenei said Iran has achieved the present level of progress in the nuclear industry despite the threats and assassinations of its atomic scientists by the enemies, stressing that Iran should be able to generate 20,000 megawatt of nuclear electricity in the future.

Iran signed the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with world powers in July 2015, agreeing to put some curbs on its nuclear program in return for the removal of the sanctions on the country. The US, however, pulled out of the deal in May 2018 and reimposed its unilateral sanctions on Tehran, prompting the latter to reduce some of its nuclear commitments under the deal.

The talks on the JCPOA’s revival began in April 2021 in Vienna, Austria. No breakthrough has been achieved after the latest round of talks in August 2022.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi paid a two-day visit to Tehran in early March when the two sides agreed to further interactions based on Iran’s cooperation and greater openness to the agency’s inspections.

ALSO READ: Iran,Qatar call for ramping up bilateral ties

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Khamenei blames US, Israel for protests

The unrest, ignited after the death of a young woman in custody after allegedly violating the Islamic dress code, is flaring up across the country for a third week despite government efforts to crack down…reports Asian Lite News

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded publicly on Monday to the biggest protests in Iran in years, breaking weeks of silence to condemn what he called “rioting” and accused the United States and Israel of planning the protests.

The unrest, ignited after the death of a young woman in custody after allegedly violating the Islamic dress code, is flaring up across the country for a third week despite government efforts to crack down. On Monday, Iran shuttered its top technology university following an hours-long standoff between students and the police, that turned the prestigious institution into the latest flashpoint of protests and ended with hundreds of young people arrested.

protests in Iran.(Photo:iranhr.net)

Speaking to a cadre of police students in Tehran, Khamenei said he was “heartbroken” by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody, calling it a “sad incident”. However, he sharply condemned the protests as a foreign plot to destabilise Iran.

The witnesses, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the police kept hundreds of students holed up on campus and fired rounds of tear gas to disperse the demonstrations.

The university’s student association said that police and plainclothes officers surrounded the school from all sides and detained at least 300 students as protests rocked the campus after nightfall. Plainclothes officers beat a professor and several university employees, the association reported.

The state-run IRNA news agency sought to downplay the violent standoff, reporting a “protest gathering” took place and ended without casualties. Iran’s latest protest movement, which has produced some of the nation’s most widespread unrest in years, emerged as a response to Amini’s death after her arrest for allegedly violating the country’s strict Islamic dress code.

However, it has grown into an open challenge to the Iranian leadership, with chants of “Death to the dictator” echoing from the streets and balconies after dark.

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Khamenei: Iran seeks peaceful use of nuclear energy, not for weapons

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the country is looking for “peaceful” use of nuclear energy, and “not for nuclear weapons”…reports Asian Lite News

“The reason for the enemy’s emphasis on the Iranian nuclear issue and the imposition of oppressive sanctions, despite their knowledge of our peaceful use (of nuclear energy), is to prevent the country’s scientific progress aimed to meet Iran’s future needs,” Xinhua news agency quoted the Supreme Leader as saying on Thursday.

Khamenei also said that the enemy has targeted the public opinion, especially the minds of the Iranian youth, by spending billions of dollars and with various plans in their think tanks to discourage them from the ideals of the Islamic revolution.

He described “economic pressure” and “media operations” as two main apparatus of the “arrogance” to separate people from the Islamic establishment, saying that spreading “lies and slandering the basis of the revolution and the institutions that help the progress of the revolution are the methods used in their media operations”.

Meanwhile, Khamenei stressed the need to deal with economic and sanction pressures by relying on internal capacities in the country.

Regarding the ongoing nuclear negotiations in the Austrian capital of Vienna, he noted that “diplomacy is also good, just as our good, revolutionary brothers are working to persuade the other side to lift sanctions”.

Criticizing some acts of the former Iranian negotiating team in signing the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), he said that “in (signing) the JCPOA, my view was that we should consider the points that would not cause problems later, but some of these points were ignored and problems that we see (today) arose”.

The Iranian leader did not elaborate on his “points” needed to be considered in the clinch of the JCPOA, but he had insisted that the US is “unreliable” about its vows, and the Iranian negotiators should have been cognizant of this point.

Iran signed the JCPOA with world powers in July 2015.

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However, former US President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement in May 2018 and reimposed unilateral sanctions on Iran, which prompted the latter to drop some of its nuclear commitments one year later and advance its halted nuclear programs.

Since April 2021, eight rounds of talks have been held in Austria’s capital Vienna between Iran and the remaining JCPOA parties, namely the UK, China, France, Russia plus Germany, with the United States indirectly involved in the talks, to revive the landmark deal.

Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani said on Wednesday that the JCPOA countries are now closer to an agreement than any time before.

He wrote on Twitter that “after weeks of intensive talks, we are closer than ever to an agreement; nothing is agreed until everything is agreed, though”.

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Biden admin mulls lifting sanctions on Khamenei

Former President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei fter a US drone was shot down by Iranian forces In June 2019…reports Asian Lite News

The Biden administration is considering lifting sanctions on Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as part of negotiations aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.

As per NBC News, the information was disclosed by a former US official and two people familiar with the matter. The US and Iranian negotiators have discussed the possible move in indirect talks in Vienna, as part of a wider set of compromises that would see the United States return to the 2015 pact and Iran once again abide by restrictions on its nuclear program, the sources said, reported The Frontier Post.

“I think that’s definitely an Iranian demand,” said Vali Nasr, professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies who worked as a diplomat in the Obama administration. “And I think the US is open to it.”

Asked about the option of lifting sanctions on the supreme leader, a State Department spokesperson told NBC News that “the precise nature and sequence of the sanctions-related steps that the United States would need to take to achieve a mutual return to compliance with the JCPOA objectives is a subject of the talks.”

The spokesperson added: “Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”

Meanwhile, Iranian President Rouhani’s chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi was quoted in Iranian media saying the US had already agreed to lift sanctions on some of Iran’s senior leadership, but US officials denied that account, reported The Frontier Post.

Asked about lifting sanctions on the supreme leader in a briefing with reporters, a senior State Department official on Thursday left the door open to the move but said nothing had been agreed so far.

“We are still working through all these issues, and that includes the issues of sanctions that you mentioned,” the official said.

In June 2019, after a US drone was shot down by Iranian forces, former President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and officials appointed by him, banning the ayatollah from travel to the United States or any financial transactions with US companies, reported The Frontier Post.

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Removing the sanctions on the supreme leader might help the Biden administration as it tries to persuade Tehran to accept several difficult compromises in the negotiations, according to Ali Vaez of the International Crisis Group think tank.

“At the end of the day, what is a more significant priority — curbing Iran’s nuclear program or imposing sanctions that in practice have almost no impact?” Vaez said.

The 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), introduced limits on Iran’s uranium enrichment and other nuclear work in return for easing economic sanctions.

Former President Trump pulled the United States out of the deal in 2018, arguing it was skewed in Iran’s favour and imposed an array of sanctions that have severely damaged Iran’s economy.

The Biden administration says the United States is ready to return to the deal if Iran once again complies with the nuclear restrictions. After six negotiating rounds in Vienna, the two sides say they have made progress but there are still key issues left to resolve, reported The Frontier Post.

“We still have serious differences with Iran with regard to returning to mutual compliance with the JCPOA. Our teams are going back for a seventh-round of indirect negotiations in the coming days,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday. “We’ll see if we can bridge the differences, but they’re real, and we have to be able to bridge them.”

The contours of a possible deal have emerged, and it’s increasingly clear both sides will have to sacrifice some of their original demands and goals, according to former US officials and Western diplomats, reported The Frontier Post.

Despite Iranian appeals, US officials have indicated that some sanctions imposed by the previous administration will remain in place if they are not inconsistent with the JCPOA.

Iran has also asked for a guarantee that the deal will not be abandoned by a future US President, but the Americans have indicated no such guarantee is possible under the US political system.

For its part, the Biden administration has demanded a commitment to engage in follow-on talks to bolster and expand on the existing JCPOA, but Iran has virtually ruled that out, saying they are only interested in renewing the 2015 accord, reported The Frontier Post.

Further, with a new hardline President, Ebrahim Raisi, preparing to take office in Iran after elections this month, his allies in the regime will be pushing for a deal now or not at all, so that the outgoing President, Hassan Rouhani, is tied to any concessions made to the Americans, Vaez said.

“I have a strong sense that the Iranian system knows by now what it takes to get this deal done, and knows that it requires painful concessions,” Vaez said. (ANI)

ALSO READ: ‘Iran should not be playing brinksmanship on IAEA pact’