In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and greetings be upon our Master and Prophet, Ab-al-Qassem Al-Mustafa Muhammad, and upon his pure, immaculate and chosen household, especially the one remaining with Allah on earth

I would like to congratulate the dear Iranian nation, all Muslims and all the followers of Ibrahimi religions on the auspicious Eid al-Adha which is one of the greatest historic memories for all the pious in the world.

[...]

Resistance against the U.S.: the Cure for Sanctions

The fifth point is: can the sanctions be cured or not? The answer is that they are definitely curable. The second answer is that certainly this cure does not lie in retreating in the face of the US. Some people argue and promote the notion that if we want to put an end to the US’s greed and bullying, we should retreat. However, this is not the case. It naturally occurs that when you retreat in the face of someone who is greedy and transgressing, he will advance. This is a natural and clear phenomenon. If you retreat and give in to the US’s demands, he will present new demands. Today, this is what the US is saying to us: it says that we should completely abandon our nuclear industry, that we should reduce our defense capabilities to one tenth of what they are – that is to say, we should put aside our defense missiles and resources which have a deterring function, thus rendering ourselves defenseless – and that we should let go of our nuclear power.

We have a strategic depth in the region on the basis of which many regional nations and governments support and love us and are willing to work in favor of our goals. However, the Americans say that we should abandon them. This is what the US wants from us. Abandoning these privileges will not make him retreat though. When you agree to reduce your defense capabilities, to destroy your own regional power and completely forget about your nuclear industry, which is vital for our country, he will not become satisfied and will demand another thing and will make another request. No sensible mind is willing to fulfil a transgressor’s requests in order to make him stop.

Nuclear Energy is a Definite Need for the Future of the Country

Notice that under the influence of the enemy’s propaganda, some people unfortunately say, “What is the use of nuclear energy for us?” There are some people who write these things in newspapers and other media. I have said before that nuclear energy is a definite need for the future of our country. In a few years, we will be needing at least 20,000, 30,000 megawatts of electricity generated by nuclear energy. We cannot obtain this otherwise and the other methods are not economically reasonable. Well, what should we do the day when we need it? Whose door should we go and knock on? Should we go and beg the US and European countries to give us nuclear electricity or develop the enrichment process? Will they do that? Today, we should think about tomorrow! These needs cannot be fulfilled in the space of six months, one or two years. These needs should be satisfied in advance and we have prepared the ground for it. Despite the fact that we have suffered a great deal of loss because of the Bar-Jaam [the JCPOA], the essence is fortunately still there and good and dazzling tasks are being accomplished in this regard. The enemy does not want this though. The same is true of defense and missile areas.

The Reason Why the Islamic Republic Is Opposed to Negotiating with the U.S.

When the Americans say, “Let us negotiate”, this is what they want to negotiate over. I strongly ask everyone to pay attention to this. Of course, I have repeatedly spoken about this, but I have to say it again because some people do not understand or pretend that they have not understood it: When the enemy says, “Let us negotiate”, it means “Come and sit at the negotiating table so that we will instruct you not to build missiles, which you have to accept of course.” If you accept their terms, well, you will be ruined as you have actually rendered yourselves defenseless. And if you do not accept their terms, there will be the same story: there will be more skirmishes, more sanctions and more threats. This is what negotiation means. The reason why I say that we will not negotiate with the US is that it is pointless. Of course, they will benefit from negotiations. The poor thing – the old man who holds office in the US – seems to have made promotional use of negotiating with North Korea. He wants to take advantage of these negotiations either for electoral or non-electoral purposes. In any case, he has personal interests, but beyond these matters, the US political system claims to be pursuing vital issues in the case of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In other words, they say that we should forsake our defense capabilities and our regional and national power. Well, this is not possible. An honorable person who is interested in preserving the country’s interests will not give in to these demands. This is what negotiation means. This is the reason why I am against negotiating with the US. Otherwise, we will negotiate with the entire world except for the US and the fake Zionist regime. We are having relations, negotiating and interacting with others and we have no problem with that. This is America’s problem with us.

[...]

The Europeans’ Empty Promises after the U.S. Withdrew from the JCPOA

We should not take heed of others’ promises either. I have said this before, but I wish to repeat it again: in early 1397 – two years ago – the US had withdrawn from the Bar-Jaam and we kept saying that the Europeans should do this and that. They said, “Ok, but you should wait three, four months.” After the passage of four months, they said that we should wait five, six more months. They kept prolonging the process. In other words, they conditioned the country’s economy and rendered it dependent. Our investors, our businessmen, our exporters and our economic activists waited impatiently to see whether Europe would do anything or not. This is really detrimental to the economy of the country. We should not trust in their promises because they do not honor them. We should not make the country wait for this and that’s decision. We should do our own job.

The Europeans did not do anything. Their last miracle was a stupid game called INSTEX, which has not become operational yet. It has not been put in place yet. In sum, INSTEX means that Iran should give to their European excellencies – for example, to the French and the English - the money that others owe to us so that they will buy every product that they deem good and send it to Iran. This is what INSTEX means. This is a wrong measure in itself, but they have not fulfilled this very promise either. The cure for sanctions is to activate domestic capacities. Of course, this requires hard work and diligence. We should work hard. This is another point.

[...]