Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called on Muslim nations to unite against the United States, declaring the Islamic Republic would never yield to “bullying,” as he put it. Iran’s supreme leader further criticized U.S. President Donald Trump for saying earlier this week that “some countries in the Middle East wouldn’t last a week without American protection,” a statement Khamenei said was a “humiliation” for Muslim countries, who must respond by standing up to arrogance. “Muslims must stand up to arrogance. (Muslims) should stand up to bullying by the United States and other bullying countries of the world,” Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.
The comments by the Iranian supreme leader were made just two weeks before President Donald Trump is due to decide, whether to pull the United States out of the multinational agreement with Iran that has limited the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from crippling international sanctions. Negotiating teams from the United States, Britain, France and Germany are seeking to formulate amendments to the deal, ahead of Washington’s declared deadline on May 12th, that would satisfy the American leader to preserve the Iranian deal; A Western attempt vehemently rejected by Russia, which emphasizes that no changes will be accepted to the multinational agreement. “We are seriously concerned by all of this – I am referring to comments made by the presidents of the United States and France about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on the Iran nuclear program. Russia has repeatedly said that there is no possibility for some kind of revote for this document, changing or enlarging it,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman said.
Moscow continues to warn the international community that pulling out of the Iranian nuclear deal would undermine attempts to strike an agreement with North Korea. This position, however, was played down by U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis, who stressed during a committee hearing in Washington that an agreement with North Korea, which has systematically broken international treaties, cannot be a factor in assuring Middle East stability. “I also recognize that some people point out that this could impact on the North Korea negotiations, but I would say in that case, in light of Kim’s family and himself breaking every international treaty every agreement they’ve ever made whether it be with the Republic of Korea or with the United States, I’m less concerned with that ripple effect right now. I think we need to focus on what is in the best interest of Middle East stability and the threat that Iran poses,” US Secretary of Defense James Mattis said.