Leader urges authorities not to back down against US

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has called on Iranian authorities not to back down in the face of the United States’ ever-increasing demands.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks on Wednesday in a meeting with a group of top university students and members of Iran’s National Elites Foundation.

“We have, time and again, told [Iranian authorities] that if surrender in the nuclear [case], they (Americans) will bring up the issue of the missile. If you back down farther, they will pick on the issue of [Iran’s] support for resistance,” Ayatollah Khamenei asserted.

“If you keep backing down even further, they will bring up [the issue of] human rights. Then, if you accept their standards, they will go for eliminating the religious standards in [our] government,” the Leader added.

The Leader pointed to recent remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who had said that the Islamic Republic’s continued support for the resistance movement in the region made it “very difficult” to help Tehran improve its banking system and business practices.

Ayatollah Khamenei said some American officials would cite the Leader’s “pessimism towards the US” during their meetings with Iranian officials, asking, “Can one be [ever] optimistic towards you, given such remarks?”