Iranian Leader Says U.S. wants to Establish Empire

USA Today:

Iran's supreme leader accused the United States of seeking global domination and vowed that his country would not give into demands to abandon its disputed nuclear program. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also alleged that Washington was stirring Sunni-Shiite violence in Iraq, and criticised Muslim countries who commit the "bad deed" of recognizing Israel.

"Our main opponent in the nuclear issue is the American government," Khamenei said in a Friday sermon to thousands of worshippers at Tehran University."The Americans claim Iran is seeking nuclear weapons. We know they are lying and the audience knows they are lying too. This hardline war-seeking goverment in the United States is seeking an empire and world domination." READ MORE

Khamenei said the U.S. go beyond the Middle East. "Its European partners know that when the United States dominates the Middle East and Asia, it won't leave Europe alone."

Last month the International Atomic Energy Agency warned Iran it could be hauled before the U.N. Security Council if it persisted with its uranium enrichment activities in violation of an agreement with the so-called EU-3 group of Great Britain, France and Germany.

Iran denies charges it is seeking weapons and argues that making nuclear fuel for peaceful purposes is a right it should enjoy as a signatory of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"Our ambitions have nothing to do with nuclear weapons. The Iranian nation will not give up this technology," Khamenei said of Iran's fuel cycle work -- which could potentially be diverted to weapons manufacturing.

"The Iranian nation has a right and will demand that," Khamenei said. "The Iranian nation will not have anything imposed on it by the United States or any other country," he added, dismissing Western entreaties as "absurd" demands.

The EU-3 has urged Iran to abandon enrichment-related work in return for a package of trade and other incentives. Iran has ruled out such a deal.

Khamenei also described Iraq's constitutional referendum -- set to cement the position of several of Iran's allies -- as a "huge act" and "not absolutely in line with what America wants."

He said the United States was "stressing" disputes between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq.

"The Shiite-Sunni dispute is the policy of enemies of Islam," Khamenei said. "All Iraqi groups should denounce such acts."

And Khamenei also said the Muslim world should continue shunning Israel.

"Islamic states must not normalize their relations with the cruel Zionist regime, which is a threat to all, to make America happy," said Khamenei, whose clerical regime openly calls for the total destruction of the state of Israel. "It is a bad deed and should not be committed."

Khamenei did not refer to recent bombings and unrest in the southwestern city of Ahvaz, the capital of oil-rich Khuzestan province and dominated by ethnic minority Arabs.

Iran's foreign minister said Thursday the regime had proof that Britain was involved in last week's double bomb attack in Ahvaz -- which killed six people -- and that British troops based just over the border in southern Iraq were "seeking to create insecurity in our country."

British officials said the allegations are baseless.