In a series of rebuffs to the United States’ outreach, Ali Khamenei stated on Sunday that America is Iran’s “main enemy,” and went on to mock President Barack Obama’s hopeful Nowruz holiday message earlier this year.
Khamenei asserted in a meeting that Iran “sees the United States as [the] main enemy,” the Mehr News Agency described him as saying.
“The extensive war going on in the region is [a] continuation of the same warfare which has been waged against the Islamic Republic of Iran since 37 years ago,” Khamenei said.
Khamenei went on to praise Hezbollah, saying that it “is strong enough not to suffer any damages from some pressures and there is no doubt the fear and scare the Zionist regime today has of Hezbollah is much more than the past.”
Khamenei also took to Twitter that day to mock Obama’s March message to the Iranian people on the holiday of Nowruz. Obama, citing a poem by the Iranian poet Fereydoon Moshiri, restated his desire to “open a new window-and begin a new relationship-between our countries.”
Khamenei posted a video in response which said in part, “they want the windows to be open so that they can enter the house because they could not enter through the door.”
The Associated Press reported Monday that Khamenei also criticized the U.S. presence in the Persian Gulf region, saying American forces should go back to the Bay of Pigs. He told a group of teachers Monday that American military drills in the region were proof of U.S. arrogance.
“They sit together, scheme and say that Iran must not hold war games in the Persian Gulf. What a foolish remark! They come here from the other side of the globe and stage war games. What are you doing here? Go back to the Bay of Pigs. Go and hold exercises there. What are you doing in the Persian Gulf? The Persian Gulf is our home,” Khamenei said. State TV broadcast part of his speech.
Khamenei also urged education officials to add other languages to their foreign language programs, saying limiting the curricula to English was a mistake.
“The language of science is not English alone. Insisting on promotion of English alone is unhealthy,” Khamenei said. “Other languages like Spanish, French, German and eastern languages are the languages of science, too.”
Khamenei has the final say on all state matters in Iran. Despite last summer’s landmark deal between Iran and the world powers, he has remained publicly suspicious of Western intentions toward Iran and the influence of Western culture and values.
Source: The Tower, AP, 3 May 2016
