Iran’s leader denounces West over nuclear talks extension

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has said the West has failed to bring Iran "to its knees" over its nuclear programme.

Meeting Muslim clerics in Tehran, the ayatollah dismissed the diplomatic and economic pressure that world powers have brought to bear on his country over its nuclear ambitions. He spoke the day after a deadline for concluding an agreement was extended for seven months.

“In the nuclear issue, America and colonial European countries got together and did their best to bring the Islamic Republic to its knees, but they could not do so – and they will not be able to do so,” the ayatollah’s personal website quoted him as saying.

The supreme leader has the final say on all important policy matters in Iran, including its nuclear programme. His remarks suggested that he would continue to support negotiations, but remained sceptical that they would yield a satisfactory agreement.

Six major powers – Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States – have been negotiating with Iran over the nuclear issue for a year. Iran is widely believed to be actively developing the materials and means to build nuclear weapons, though Tehran maintains that its program is strictly civilian and peaceful.

Diplomats from all sides insisted until very recently that the November 24th deadline for a deal was hard and fast. But on Monday, with no final agreement within reach, they extended the deadline until June 30th, 2015.

In the Iranian parliament, lawmakers erupted in their usual chants of “Death to America” after a deputy commenting on the deadline extension spoke of “the US’s sabotaging efforts and its unreliability.”

The deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Hassan Abutorabi-Fard, said Iran had learned from the nuclear negotiations that it had a strong hand to play. “Today, we can speak to the US and its allies with the tone of power,” he said in remarks quoted by the Fars news agency. “A lesson can be taken from the recent nuclear talks that, for various reasons, the US is not reliable.”

In a series of tweets from an account used by his office, the ayatollah accused the West of meddling in the Middle East and using Sunni militant groups to thwart the Arab Spring uprisings with intra-Muslim infighting “in line with arrogant goals”. The Iranian authorities often use the term “arrogant powers” as shorthand for the United States and its allies.

New York Times