PHOTO: Supreme Leader’s top aide Ali Abkar Velayati “US break its promises more than others”
The Supreme Leader’s top aide has declared that Iran will pursue US “disloyalty” over the 2015 nuclear deal at the forthcoming UN General Assembly annual session.
Ali-Akbar Velayati declared on Sunday that some of the 5+1 Powers had upheld the agreement: “Undoubtedly, the behavior of the Russia and the China was different from that exhibited by other member states and maybe we can regard France different from others as well….It is the United States tending to break its promises more than others.”
Velayati specifically referred to Russia’s sale of S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems to Iran — with delivery of some components this summer — despite Washington’s opposition.
The main objection of the Iranian regime is that the US has maintained some financial restrictions despite implementation of the nuclear agreement in January.
Washington has said that Iran cannot have access to the US financial system, and some European firms and banks are hesitant about renewing links with Tehran because of fear of American punishment. The situation has been compounded by US sanctions on Iranian entities over Tehran’s ballistic missile testing, and by a Supreme Court decision freezing $2 billion in Iranian assets so families of terrorism victims can sue for compensation.
Iran’s Supreme Leader has repeatedly chided the US for “dishonesty”, pressing the Rouhani Government not be weak towards the Americans and ruling out any connections beyond implementation of the July 2015 deal.
Both President Rouhani and President Obama are likely to address the General Assembly. Last year, the occasion was celebrated as a marker of US-Iranian rapprochement, although the two men did not meet.
