PHOTO: Secretary of Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei
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Continuing the Supreme Leader’s rhetorical campaign against the US, a high-level Iranian official said on Saturday that Washington and Israel are plotting threats against the Islamic Republic “at its borders” and across the Middle East.
Mohsen Rezaei — Secretary of the Expediency Council and a former Presidential candidate — told the Council on Saturday, “We are observing some of [these threats] in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq and they have hatched plots to push insecurities to our borders, including the western and Eastern borders.”
According to Fars News, Rezaie called for “vigilance and preparedness to give a powerful, crushing response to potential aggressors and nip the enemies’ plots in the bud”.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Leader stepped up the verbal offensive over the region:
I have information about the enemies’ plan to spread proxy wars to the Iranian borders in collusion with some silly officials of Persian Gulf countries, not all of them, only some….
They must be aware…that, in case of any misconduct, Iran’s response will be extremely harsh.
The rhetoric has been accompanied by important meetings involving the Supreme Leader’s top aide Ali Akbar Velayati. On Monday, he saw Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and on Tuesday he met Syria’s President Assad.
On Friday, Nasrallah told his members that they should prepare for a “popular mobilization” for the “existential battle” in support of Assad in Syria.
See Syria Feature: Hezbollah’s Nasrallah Calls for “Popular Mobilization” for an “Existential Battle”
Syria Feature: Top Aide of Iran’s Supreme Leader Pays Sudden Visit to Assad
Foreign Minister Zarif Meets MPs in Closed-Door Session Over Nuclear Talks
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Iran’s lead nuclear negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi, met MPs in a closed-door session on Sunday morning.
According to the pro-Government news agency IRNA, MP Mohammad Sadat Ebrahimi said Zarif was “convincing” in his summary of the talks with the 5+1 Powers drafting the text of a final agreement.
Another MP, Kamaleddin Pirmoazzen, told IRNA of Zarif’s assurances that “Iran has already established its right for [uranium] enrichment” — including continued operations its second plant at Fordoo — and that the 5+1 (US, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia) “have committed themselves to remove sanctions against Tehran”.
The latest negotiations ended on Friday in Vienna after three days and resume next Tuesday. The two sides are seeking a comprehensive deal by a June 30 deadline.