Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday hailed the Iranian masses for demanding the destruction of Israel and America, and said he hoped that God would answer their prayers. In a viciously anti-US speech delivered in Tehran four days after Iran and the world powers signed an accord designed to thwart Iran’s nuclear program, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei praised “the slogans of the people of Iran” which “indicated what directions they’re heading for,” according to the English translation of his speech by Iran’s Press TV. At Al-Quds day rallies last week, Khamenei noted appreciatively, “You heard ‘Death to Israel’, ‘Death to the US.’ You could hear it. The whole nation was shaken by these slogans. It wasn’t only confined to Tehran. The whole of the nation, you could hear, that was covered by this great movement. So we ask Almighty God to accept these prayers by the people of Iran.” Khamenei also vowed in the speech, which was broadcast live on state television, that the nuclear agreement with the major powers would not change Iran’s policy against the “arrogant American government” nor would it change the Islamic Republic’s policy of supporting its “friends” in the region.
His remarks were greeted intermittently by chants of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” at the ceremony, held in Tehran to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. He ridiculed the notion that Iran had capitulated in the talks, and said the world could not have stopped an Iranian nuclear weapons project because Iran never had such a project. He castigated America for its support of Israel — which he called the “terrorist, child-killing Zionist regime.” And he said Iran could never engage in discussions or reach an agreement with an America that backed Israel. “Plainly we don’t want war,” Khamenei said. “But if war breaks out, it will be the aggressive, cruel American that loses.” Under the deal announced Tuesday, Iran’s nuclear program will be scaled back and closely monitored as the US and world powers seek to cut off its ability to develop an atomic weapon. In exchange, Iran will see biting economic sanctions gradually lifted, freeing up tens of billions of dollars in oil revenue and frozen assets.
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