The Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – the “supreme leader” of Iran – praised America’s “Occupy Wall Street” movement on Thursday, calling it a reflection of people around the world who are “losing their patience” w ith the dominance of the United States and Israel in the international community.
“Everybody has become tired of this faulty international structure,” Khamenei said in his inaugural address to the Non-Aligned Summit, a gathering of 120 nations now taking place in Tehran.
“The 99-percent movement of the American people against the centers of wealth and power in America and the widespread protests of the people in Western Europe against the economic policies of their governments show that the people are losing their patience with this situation,” Iran’s Fars news agency quoted him as saying.
(The Occupy movement, born in lower Manhattan one year ago, claims to speak for the “99 percent that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1 percent. )
“It is necessary to remedy this irrational situation,” Khamenei said, adding that “firm” bonds between NAM member states “can play an important role” in minimizing U.S.-Israeli influence.
Khamenei said the Non-Aligned Movement should take advantage of the “Islamic awakening” – also known as the Arab Spring—to boost its standing in global affairs.
“And finally, we should consider the Islamic Awakening in the region and the fall of the dictatorships in North Africa, which were dependent on America and were accomplices to the Zionist regime, as a great opportunity,” he said.
The ayatollah also emphasized Iran’s intention to proceed with its nuclear program: “I stress that the Islamic Republic has never been after nuclear weapons and that it will never give up the right of its people to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes,” he said.
Iran’s nuclear activities have been of international concern since the discovery in 2003 that Iran had concealed its nuclear activities for 18 years, in breach of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Many countries contend that Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
The summit now taking place in Iran includes 120 developing nations that sought to remain outside the U.S. and Soviet spheres of influence during the Cold War.
U.N. chief meets with Khamenei
As CNSNews.com previously reported, the leaders attending the NAM summit include U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, whose visit to Iran drew mild criticism from the U.S. State Department...
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