Senior official says Iran cannot take one step back

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Sep. 29 – Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator said the country’s nuclear stand-off with the West is part of a greater strategic conflict between the Islamic Republic and the United States, state dailies reported on Thursday. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Sep. 29 – Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator said the country’s nuclear stand-off with the West is part of a greater strategic conflict between the Islamic Republic and the United States, state dailies reported on Thursday.

Ali Larijani told a conference of senior Islamic clerics in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, that nuclear capabilities were vital for the survival of the clerical regime. “Nuclear technology is important for us and our future”.

“America’s problem with us is not just about the nuclear issue. This is a war in which if take a step back today, tomorrow they will bring up the issue of human rights, and the day after they will bring up the issue of Hezbollah, and then democracy, and other matters”, Larijani said.

Larijani, who was recently installed as secretary general of the powerful Supreme National Security Council by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Western governments, and the United States in particular, were trying to create a world order where certain countries would dominate other countries and have global domination.

Larijani, a former General of the Revolutionary Guards, is a protégé of Supreme Leader Khamenei.