Rasa News Agency – Ayatollah Sayyed Ahmad Khatami, the temporary Friday prayer leader of Tehran and a member of the Assembly of Experts, spoke at a ceremony marking the martyrdom anniversary of Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (A) at the Friday prayer mosque in the city of Abhar in Zanjan province. In part of his lecture, he spoke of Iran’s nuclear negotiations with the P5+1.
In regards to the nuclear negotiations with the United States, Ayatollah Khatami said that due to the arrogant nature of the Americans, interaction and negotiations has had no effect. He explained that since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution until the present, some critics have said that the Islamic Republic of Iran has lost opportunities to have a relationship with the US, but that we know that the American’s are not honest. Ayatollah Khatami stated that the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution (Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei) said a year ago that he did not expect the nuclear negotiations to bear fruit.
He stated that during the negotiations with the P5+1 group of countries, the Americans insulted the Iranian nation in the worst possible way. Ayatollah Khatami explained that the United States seeks to dominate and humiliate the Iranian nation. He gave the example of Wendy Sherman, Barack Obama’s Under Secretary for Political Affairs, who said in a testimony to Congress in October 2013 that the US had to be cautious about cutting a deal with Tehran, because recent experience with the Iranians over their nuclear program shows that “deception is part of their DNA.”
Also, the Americans continuously brought up issues which were not part of the nuclear-focused discussions. These unnecessary statements are symbols of the intrusive, domineering and the audacity of the American government, Ayatollah Khatami explained.
At the end of his lecture, Ayatollah Khatami explained that the sixth Imam, Ja’far as-Sadiq (A), loves the Shi’ah who implement the teachings of Islam in their daily lives, and not those who take the title Shi’ah as a slogan or title alone. For this reason, a religious lifestyle is the best lifestyle that all Shi’ah and Muslims should adopt, His Eminence taught.
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