“Suggestions to reduce our defensive power so as to appease the enemy are nothing more than naive and ill-advised… Over time, these flawed proposals have been rebutted, but if they weren’t, Iran would have now faced great threats,” Khamenei was quoted as saying.
“Regional presence gives us strategic depth and more power. Why should we give it up? Scientific progress in the nuclear field is related to our future needs, and if we give that up, will anyone help us in the future?” he added.
Tehran is locked in negotiations with world powers to revive the nuclear deal that offered it sanctions relief in return for curbs on its atomic program.
Its arch-foe the United States, under former US president Donald Trump, unilaterally withdrew in 2018 from the accord known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. READ MORE
