Khamenei Says 'No Retreat' on Iran Nuclear Rights
Iran's top decision-maker Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday he will not allow any "retreat" on Tehran's nuclear rights, ahead of a new round of talks with world powers.
While expressing support for negotiators engaging in nuclear talks in Geneva today, the supreme leader said the Iranian team was instructed to respect Tehran's "red lines."
He appeared to be referring to Iran's insistence on continuing to enrich uranium on its own soil, a process that can create medical isotopes and fuel for power plants, but at much higher levels can also be used to generate a key component for an atomic bomb.
"I insist on stabilizing the rights of the Iranian nation, including the nuclear rights," Khamenei told militiamen of the Basij force in Tehran, in a rare, live televised address.
"I insist on not retreating one step from the rights of the Iranian nation," he added.
The remarks come as the so-called P5+1 group of world powers -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany -- seek an elusive deal with Iran to curb its controversial nuclear activities.
The P5+1 representatives and Iranian negotiators, led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, meet for the third time in a little over a month in the Swiss city on Wednesday.
World powers suspect Iran is masking military objectives in its nuclear work, despite repeated denials in Tehran and officials insisting the nuclear program is for purely peaceful purposes.
Final decisions on the program rest with Khamenei.
"I am not interfering in the details of these negotiations but there are red lines and limits that must be respected," Khamenei said.
"I have told the officials that they must respect these limits, and not fret about the hullabaloo of the enemies and those opposed" to these talks, he said without elaborating.
Source: Agence France Presse
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