A senior advisor to the Leader on international affairs said although the Islamic Republic would have to grapple with some difficulties in case sanctions remain in place, the Islamic Republic will not accept "any Pressures" in nuclear talks with the major powers to secure the lifting of sanctions.
Ali Akbar Velayati, who is also the head of the Center for Strategic Research of the Expediency Council, made the remarks in a press conference late on Wednesday, IRNA reported. On the recent critical remarks by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei about US officials who threaten Iran with military action, Velayati said the Leader has advised the nuclear negotiators to continue talks while observing the red lines, without heeding US threats. "These are nothing but empty threats, made by some reckless (American) politicians who threaten Iran without having any clear understanding of the region," he said, adding that such utterances are only addressed to their domestic audience.
The senior official also dismissed the idea that US President Barack Obama is under pressure from Congress, saying this is a "game" staged by the American side, citing as evidence a unanimous vote by both Republicans and Obama's fellow Democrats at the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee to approve a bill that gives the US lawmakers the power to review a prospective nuclear deal with Iran, which was first met by Obama's opposition, but was later endorsed by the White House after a compromise version of the legislation was introduced. "They should be aware that they cannot block (Iran's nuclear activities) by playing such games," he noted.
Velayati said the United States has already "disgraced" itself by supporting the killing of the defenseless Yemeni people and the destruction of the country's infrastructure by Saudi Arabia, "Only because they do not accept a president imposed on them by the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council who has even fled the country and lost his legitimacy."
Stressing that the US provokes instability in the region by backing "the oppressors" in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, he called on the United Nations to fulfill its duties in this regard.
