Iran will not step back from nuclear path – supreme ruler

“If Iran takes one step back, the arrogant powers in the world would take one step forward,” said Iran’s supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a sermon Wednesday, July 30. He spoke three days ahead of a deadline given by the six world powers for his government to give “a reasonable” answer to their incentives for suspending uranium enrichment.
debkafile: Ayatollah Khamenei’s statement, broadcast by Iran’s national TV, if it represents Iran’s final position, will have the effect of breaking up the six-power front against Iran’s nuclear program. This may have been his desired effect. Russia and China are expected to take exception to the harsh economic penalties favored by the US and most of Europe.
“It is totally wrong and baseless to think that any retreat from our righteous positions would change the policies of the arrogant powers,” Khamenei said.
The deadline was laid down at talks in Geneva on July 19 between Iran’s nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and diplomats from five powers in the presence of a US official. When Jalili arrived without an answer, the diplomats gave Tehran another two weeks to come up with a reply to the offer of a freeze on sanctions in return for a freeze on enrichment. Ayatollah Khamenei’s statement, broadcast by Iran’s national TV, may represent Iran’s final position.