Iranian official: US will remain our enemy despite emerging nuclear deal
(Worthy News) – A senior Iranian military official said Sunday that despite the emerging nuclear deal between Iran and the US-led P5+1 group of world powers, America will remain Tehran’s enemy, the Jerusalem Post reported.
Iranian Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan said that even if a nuclear deal comes to fruition in Vienna, where Iranian and western negotiators are currently trying to reach an agreement by a Tuesday deadline, Tehran and Washington will not become friends.
“The US might arrive at some agreements with us within the framework of the Group 5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany), but we should never hold a positive view over the enemy,” Iran’s Fars News Agency quoted Pourdastan as saying. [ Source ]
In an address in Tehran on March 21, 2015, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei responded to the crowds’ chants of “Death to America” by saying: “Death to America, of course, because America is the principal element behind this pressure [i.e., the economic sanctions].” He continued, “Nobody should believe these lies of the enemy. As for the nuclear issue, our enemies, the rivals of the Iranian nation, led by America, are adhering to a specific plan and policy.”
“They need these negotiations. America desperately needs these nuclear negotiations,” Khamenei stated.
Khamenei said that Obama had said “some dishonest things” in his Nowruz address and that the American goal was “to turn the [Iranian] people against the system.”
Iranian Parliament recently voted to ban access to military sites, documents, and scientists as part of any nuclear agreement with the United States. During the vote, some Iranian lawmakers chanted “Death to America.”
On Monday, Associated Press reporter Matt Lee asked the State Department if the “Death to America” chants were a cause for concern for the nuclear negotiations or just political grandstanding.
“It is certainly not helpful,” Kirby said. “But is it going to have a major impact on the negotiating teams in Vienna? No.” [ Source ]