IRAN: Nuclear bomb as metaphor
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There are few signs that Iran is going to back down on U.S. demands ahead of possible U.N. Security Council sanctions this weekend. Washington is in a tizzy over Iran’s continued enrichment of uranium, a step in the process for making a nuclear bomb as well as fuel for a power plant.
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati is a high-ranking cleric close to the highest echelons of power in Iran. He delivered a fiery and defiant Friday prayer speech directed at the West:
The International Atomic Energy Agency has reported that Iran has replied to all questions. The Security Council and the U.S. and its allies should be ashamed of taking our dossier up. But whatever you do, our people will not back down and our borders are a nuclear weapon. Except for nuclear weapons, all other peaceful nuclear activities, including uranium enrichment, are open to us. Our people in the rallies of the revolution are our bombs. We do not need nuclear bombs. You make bombs.
Maybe to lighten the mood, Jannati also advised the Iranian people to avoid ‘committing sins’ during the upcoming Persian New Year holidays.
— Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran