Iran’s Khamenei says he will not bow down to US

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls for a united national front to confront what he describes as US efforts to subjugate the Islamic Republic.

The remarks, delivered at a mosque in the capital Tehran and published on Khamenei’s official website, come two months after fighting halted between Iran and Israel in a war that the United States briefly joined, and as Tehran is engaged in talks with world powers about its nuclear program.

The rare Israeli and US attacks in June, which targeted key nuclear sites and prompted Iranian retaliation, were designed to destabilize the nation, Khamenei argues.

He says that a day after “Iran was attacked” by Israel at the start of the war, “American agents” met in Europe “to discuss what government should rule Iran after the Islamic Republic.”

Khamenei claims that the United States ultimately seeks to make Iran “obedient to it.”

“The Iranian nation will stand with all of its power against those who have such erroneous expectations,” he says.

“The Iranian nation, by standing firm alongside the armed forces, the government and the system, delivered a strong blow” to its enemies, Khamenei says.

He warns against internal divisions he claims foreign powers are fomenting.

“The way forward for the enemy is to create discord” in Iran, he says, blaming “agents of America and the Zionist regime” for seeking to sow division.

“Today, thanks to God, the country is united. There are differences of opinion, but when it comes to defending the system, defending the country, and standing up against the enemy, the people are united,” Khamenei adds.