RNA – In an interview with Rasa News Agency, Hujjat al-Islam Mohammad-Taqi Rahbar, the provisional Friday prayer leader of Esfahan, referring to the recent statements by the French President, Emmanuel Macron, regarding the need for discussions on Iran’s missile industry and the imposition of new sanctions on Iran if Iran doesn’t agree to negotiations and emphasized on the unreliability of the West, saying, “We cannot trust the West in any way.”
On Thursday, Macron said during a visit to Dubai that he was “very concerned” by Iran’s ballistic missile programme, mentioning a missile fired from Yemen and intercepted by Saudi Arabia earlier in November. He raised the prospect of possible sanctions with regard to those activities.
The Iranian cleric added, “If we look back at the past 100 years, we see that the United Kingdom has launched many conspiracies against our country and these plots and conspiracies have increased since the Islamic Revolution. France and other European countries may have seemed to be our friends outwardly, but their policies are hostile to our country and the Islamic Revolution.”
He argued that European countries are adopting their positions in full harmony with the United States and said, “Regarding their interactions with each other, European countries don’t take a position without coordinating with the United States and Macron’s statements against Iran and the threat of further sanctions in this direction confirm this.”
Referring to the necessity of distrusting foreign countries, in particular the United States and European countries, Hujjat al-Islam Rahbar said, “Our country must be discerning in politics and deal with others through intelligence, awareness and vigilance in a method which doesn’t harm our national interests. Our engagement with the West mustn’t in line with their demands and interests but our national interests and national security must be taken into account.”
He stressed upon the red lines of Iran’s missile and defense industries and said, “Government officials have repeatedly said that the missile industry isn’t negotiable and they must stand by this statement, which the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution [Ayatollah Khamenei] has repeatedly emphasized, because protecting the country’s security depends on protecting the country’s defensive capabilities and missile deterrence.”
Referring to the statement made by Yukiya Amano, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), over the IAEA’s control over the peaceful nuclear activities of the country, His Eminence said, “We have retreated many times in our nuclear industry without the West having acted in accordance with any of their obligations. We have shut down and cemented our nuclear industry and we always relied on the empty statements and promises of the West and we refrained from engaging in nuclear activities and there is no doubt about this.”
Hujjat al-Islam Rahbar noted, “Iran’s military and defense weapons and missile knowledge are to protect the interests of the nation and the security of the country and we cannot retreat from this issue by any means and it cannot be negotiated under any circumstances. As much as the enemies want to impose sanctions on the country. Eventually, we must stop the foreigners and rely on our national capabilities and internal capacities.”
The provisional Friday prayer leader of Esfahan added, “The world is not just the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe. The world is large and there are many countries in the world with whom we can interact with and secure our country’s interests. Countries which cooperate with us in a friendly and sincere manner must be given consideration by the government and as long as this interaction exists, this path must continue.”
Hujjat al-Islam Rahbar stated that the main strategy of Iran’s Islamic holy system is to preserve our defense and deterrence capabilities and said, “We will never yield to the enemies’ pressures and we won’t bring our defense industries to the negotiating table. Finally, we must recognize the enemies and know that the enemies will never stop us. They always seek to secure their own interests.”