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Khamenei: 'Military attack is not a priority for Americans'

June 5, 2014 at 9:46 am

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei asserted on Wednesday that the Obama administration had excluded the military option for resolving outstanding problems with other countries.

Calling for Iranian officials to maintain national unity, Khamenei affirmed that the many years of wars incited by the US have not shaken his country.

The New York Times quoted Khamenei, standing in front of a decorated stage with a banner proclaiming “America cannot do a damn thing,” as saying: “They realised that military attacks are as dangerous or even more dangerous for the assaulting country as they are for the country attacked.”

“A military attack is not a priority for Americans now… They have renounced the idea of any military actions,” he added.

These were Khamenei’s first public remarks in response to US President Barack Obama’s commencement speech last week at the United States Military Academy in West Point, in which he argued that the US had other ways of carrying out foreign policy besides military force.

Nevertheless, the New York Times noted that Obama has repeatedly insisted that the military option remains on the table to resolve the nuclear dispute should negotiations fail.

According to the newspaper, the Supreme Leader leader also accused Washington of inciting internal problems to negatively affect the politics of other nations. He said that the US supported internal opposition protests in Iran that challenged the 2009 presidential elections.

In addition, he accused the US of supporting terrorist acts in Iran and elsewhere. “They did it in Iraq, Afghanistan and some Arab countries of the region and in our country as well,” he said.

Khamenei’s speech marked the 25th anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic who died in 1989.