AFP: Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Muslim countries did not need the approval of the United States to record great achievements, amid continued tension over Iran’s nuclear drive. TEHRAN (AFP) Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Muslim countries did not need the approval of the United States to record great achievements, amid continued tension over Iran’s nuclear drive.
“Some Islamic countries think that if the United States does not agree they cannot be successful,” Khamenei was quoted telling visiting Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade late Wednesday, according to the Fars news agency.
“This opinion is a lie and wrong. If nations decide without the approval of superpowers they can do great work,” Khamenei added.
His comments came as Britain, France and the United States seek to persuade the UN Security Council to agree a resolution imposing a third set of sanctions against Iran over its refusal to halt sensitive nuclear activities.
However the Western powers have postponed a vote on the text to next week in a bid to win unanimous support from all members of the council, including four non-permanent members said to have reservations, diplomats said.
Veto-wielding permanent member Russia said it would be ready to support new UN sanctions unless Tehran announced a last-minute change of mind, said its ambassador Vitaly Churkin.
“The US superpower language is a language of making threats and creating fear. If Islamic countries become united, this language of fear will have no effect,” Khamenei said.
Tehran has defied calls in previous resolutions for it to freeze uranium enrichment, a sensitive process world powers fear could be used to make nuclear weapons.
Iran, OPEC’s number two oil exporter, insists its nuclear drive is peaceful and only aimed at generating atomic energy for a growing population whose immense oil and gas reserves will run out in decades.
