Khamenei reinforces support for Palestine and questions talks with the United States

The website of Ali Khamenei publicised the meeting between the Ayatollah of Iran, Ali Khamenei, and Iranian students in Tehran on the occasion of the month of Ramadan, in which he showed a message of support for the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance in the face of the front they have opened with Israel and in which he questioned the negotiations with the United States regarding their nuclear programme. 

‘The events in Western Asia are painful and bitter. We will support the Palestinian and Lebanese resistance with all our might. There is a consensus on the matter among the country's leaders. The government, the honourable president and other leaders are in agreement on these issues; there is no problem! And, God willing, the Iranian nation will be able, as in the past, to be recognised in the world as a standard bearer of resistance against oppression’. 

‘Contrary to the enemy's expectations, neither the Palestinian nor the Lebanese resistance has been defeated; on the contrary, they have been strengthened,’ he added. 

In a belligerent tone, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran pointed to what he called the ‘tyrants of the world’, who ‘do not surrender’. 

Khamenei called on student organisations to focus on university affairs, insisting on that point and on the fact that reports reaching him show that ‘this initiative has not been carried out as it should have been’. Khamenei indicated that ‘fortunately, the dominant thinking in the student environment is evolving towards a more mature and global vision’, in the face of an enemy that ‘has seriously activated its policy of promoting a spirit of submission, inactivity and dependence’. 

With regard to possible negotiations with the United States on the nuclear programme, Ali Khamenei told young people that in their criticism they should try ‘not to give the impression of a dead end’. ‘In other words, do not criticise in a way that gives ordinary people a sense of hopelessness. Some people in the country constantly harp on about the negotiations: Why don't you respond? Why don't you negotiate? Why don't you sit down at the table with the United States? Come on, do it!’, said the Iranian Ayatollah. 

The Ayatollah indicated that talks with Donald Trump's administration will not lift the sanctions but will increase the pressure. ‘I want to make it clear that if the objective of the negotiations is the lifting of sanctions, then negotiations with this US government will not lift the sanctions. In fact, they will only reinforce them and make them even more complicated. They will increase the pressure. Negotiations with this administration will only intensify the pressure,’ Khamenei said.