Addressing a crowd in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, Khamenei said that no country could force Iran into giving up its undeniable nuclear rights.
The Supreme Leader said that Tehran was willing to negotiate with Europeans and non-Europeans alike.
Government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said Iran would resume suspended nuclear activities at its uranium enrichment facility in Natanz on Monday, prompting United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei to openly state that he was loosing his patience with Tehran. The move breaches earlier agreements that had been reached between Tehran and the European trio of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom which had been leading nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic to avoid an escalation of the crisis.
Khamenei said that the West was after imposing sanctions on Tehran using its nuclear program as a pretext. Those who speak about sanctions today have when possible on different occasions over the past years placed sanctions on Iran. But, these threats do not have any effects on us, he said, adding that the Islamic Republic was determined its nuclear pursuit.
