Ayatollah Khamenei: US against Iran like 'camel dreaming of cottonseed'

Leader of Iran's Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has slammed US sanctions on Tehran as "a crime against the Iranian nation".

"The sanctions applied by the Americans against the Iranian nations are a crime, and there is no doubt about it," the Leader said in a televised speech on Friday on the occasion of Eid al-Adha.

"The sanctions are a crime against a nation; even though it seems to be against the establishment, it is indeed against the entire nation," he added.

The Leader said surrendering to the enemy is not the way to lift the sanctions. “The only cure for sanctions is rather relying on domestic capabilities.”

“Some argue and propagate the idea that if you want to stop the US from bullying, you need to back off. No sir! A person who is accustomed to aggression will come forward if you back off. This is a clear and natural issue. If you accept the US demands, they will raise new demands,” he noted.

“What the US wants is that we totally abandon our nuclear industry, reduce our defensive equipment to one-tenth, and give up our regional power,” he said.

However, the Leader noted, nuclear energy is Iran’s “definite need”, and the nature of the industry has been maintained despite numerous damages Iran incurred because of the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Ayatollah Khamenei said the enemies of the Islamic Republic seek to achieve short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals by imposing sanctions against the Iranian nation.

Goals of sanctions

In the short-term, they seek to impose so much pressure that the nation gets weary, exhausted, and disturbed, so much so that they stand against the establishment, he said.

“You know that last year they said and this year they say there will be a hot summer – meaning the people should come and stand against the establishment, but they themselves got the hot summer,” the Leader said, apparently referring to anti-racism rallies which have been going on in the US for two months now.

Their mid-term goal, he said, is to prevent the country’s development through sanctions. "They mainly seek to prevent the country’s scientific development,” he said, citing the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists as an example of the enemy’s efforts to hinder the country’s scientific progress.

Ayatollah Khamenei said the enemy’s long-term goal is to lead the country and the government into bankruptcy.

“One of the other goals they pursue is to dismantle the country’s economy; if a country’s economy collapses, it is not possible to live in that country anymore.”

The enemies also seek to achieve a collateral goal, which is to cut the Islamic Republic’s ties with the resistance forces in the region, Ayatollah Khamenei noted. “That’s because they know the Islamic Republic will keep helping them as much as it can.”

“We have a strategic depth in the region, based on which many nations and governments are fans of us and are interested in Iran. They are ready to strive to serve our goals. The enemies want it to be abandoned, but even if we do that, it will not stop them [the enemies] … and they will demand something else.”

However, the Leader added, these dreams will never come true and as a Persian proverb says, “A camel dreams of cottonseed.”

Disinformation campaign

The Leader further pointed to a disinformation campaign, which works hand in hand with the sanctions and includes distortion of the truth and misrepresentation of the realities.

The main purpose of the disinformation campaign is to undermine the people’s morale, and to offer wrong solutions to people’s problems, Ayatollah Khamenei added.

The enemies, the Leader said, suggest if Iran wants the sanctions to be lifted, it must give in to US demands. “This is the gist of what they say.”

“Some people are influenced [by these insinuations] and exactly repeat what the enemies want, whether regarding the country’s weaknesses or its points of progress which they play down and offer wrong solutions,” the Leader said. 

However, this campaign will fail to influence the majority of the Iranian people, because they have known the enemy and how biased it is, Ayatollah Khamenei added.

The Leader said the disinformation campaign tries to convince the Iranian people that the Islamic Republic must succumb to the US demands. “If this campaign fails, so will the sanctions.”

Ayatollah Khamenei said the Iranian people are smart and have taken advantage of the enemy’s sanctions, gaining achievements against the enemy’s will.

He went on to say that the US’ secondary sanctions led the Iranian scientists and producers to indigenize what the country could not provide because of Washington’s bans.

He pointed to the production of the advanced homegrown jet fighter Kowsar, the spare parts produced inside the country, the establishment of thousands of knowledge-based companies, the Persian Gulf Star Refinery built by the IRGC, and the major energy projects in southern and Western Iran as examples of the Islamic Republic’s achievements under the sanctions.

“Had they sold us a jet aircraft, we would not have produced the jet trainer Kowsar inside the country,” he said.

“They [enemies] have admitted that Iran managed to manufacture so many defensive products at the time of sanctions.”