Khamenei: US and colonial powers will not succeed in bringing Iran to its knees

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ali Khamenei, said on Tuesday that the US and European colonial powers have united to bring Iran to its knees, but they were not and will not be able to do so, Anadolu news agency reported.

His comments came after the last round of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme ended on Monday in the Austrian capital, Vienna, with no tangible results.

The official Iranian news agency IRNA reported that Khamenei addressed current issues in a speech during his meeting with Islamic scholars in the Iranian capital Tehran.

According to Anadolu, Khamenei suggested that the Islamic State or ISIS terrorist organisation has offered to serve the goals of the world powers, describing people’s movements in the Arab countries as an “Islamic awakening”, but noting that extremist groups in the region have begun to deviate the Islamic awakening from its path.

Khamenei stressed the need to fight against organisations similar to ISIS at the ideological level, noting that rescuing the young from the hands of ISIS is the scholars’ job.

The Iranian Supreme Leader also called the US fight against ISIS a “blatant lie”, adding that: “The US is working to keep the confrontation with ISIS alive. According to the information we have received, the US has provided assistance to ISIS by dumping weapons and ammunition on the areas under the control of ISIS in Iraq, and this was repeated five times.”

Khamenei also spoke about the Israeli aggressions against Al-Aqsa Mosque, pointing out that: “The Islamic world is distracted by extremists who were created by global powers, rather than focusing its attention on what is happening to Al-Aqsa Mosque,” recognising the attempts to generate sectarian divisions in the region.

Khamenei continued: “We are not prisoners of our view; what we have presented to Shiite Hezbollah in Lebanon, was also presented to Sunni Hamas in Palestine. We have worked to strengthen the power of our Palestinian brothers through our support and we will continue to do that. As I said earlier, the West Bank residents should arm themselves and should be ready to defend themselves in the face of Israel, like those living in Gaza.”