Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the clerical regime, took a position five days after the announcement of the US administration’s new policy against the clerical regime and the terrorist designation of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Ridiculously claiming that “We do not want to waste our time … by responding to the President of the United States,” he tried to conceal his own and his regime’s alarm. He warned the regime’s officials, however, that “We should not remain ignorant of the enemy’s plot and conspiracy,… because there are issues whose importance is not less than war” He accused “some officials” of the regime of “negligence” and of being “influenced by the West,” saying if they mean what they say, they are “traitors.”
“The Europeans condemned the statements of the President of the United States against the JCPOA … That is not enough … the JCPOA favors them. Firstly, Europeans must stand against the US actions… For example, they should take a stand against these sanctions or what they are now expecting to come out of their Congress; it is not enough to say ‘we disagree.’ Secondly, they should avoid interfering with our fundamental issues, such as our defense capabilities or the like; they should not be in unison with the United States. If European governments speak the same words [as the US president], asking “why is Iran in the region,” it is none of your business! Why should [Iran] not be present?” Khamenei demanded, clearly appalled that the Europeans had sided with the United States regarding the regime’s missile projects and criminal meddling in the region.
For the first time, Khamenei referred to missiles with a range of three thousand kilometers, saying: “When the United States says, ‘Why do you have a missile with a range of two thousand kilometers,’ or suppose it’s three thousand kilometers, and then these [Europeans] come and say the same thing, that does not make sense! It is none of your business… If they want to interfere in the Islamic Republic’s defense capabilities and make statements in that regard, we absolutely reject statements from Europeans regarding missiles and whatever else they are saying. Our defense capabilities must be increased every day, and will, of course, do just that.”
Earlier, on October 14, Hossein Shariatmadar, Khamenei’s representative in Kayhan daily newspaper, said in an interview with FARS, the IRGC news agency: “Our most effective response can and should be to unveil the intercontinental ballistic missile that is the US’s Achilles heel. Today, the US is in some ways in our neighborhood, because it has 50 bases and tens of thousands of troops in the region.”
“The Republicans, the Democrats, Trump, the Senate, Congress, all of these are the same; the European Union is not trustworthy,” said Tehran’s interim Friday Imam and the vice chairman of the regime’s Assembly of Experts. “Some are happy that the European Union supports the JCPOA. You should know that between Iran and the United States, the European Union will certainly take sides with the United States.” He added that the President of the United States “criticized Iran for having ballistic missiles, intercontinental missiles, this is something the Quran commands us to do.”
On the one hand, Khamenei and his officials’ words reveal their alarm at the potential consequences of the new US policy and, on the other, indicate the regime’s insistence on continuing its missile development and regional interference as the only way of maintaining its survival. They realize any step back would lead to overthrow. Khamenei said in April, before the presidential election sham, that Western countries were demanding changes in the regime’s behavior, emphasizing that a change in behavior means a change of regimes.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
October 19, 2017
