Iranian Leader Khamenei says ‘crimes’ of US can be turned into opportunities

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reportedly said that the “crimes” of the United States can be turned into opportunities to save the country’s economy. Khamenei said that Iran doesn’t seek to threaten anyone rather their military power is for preventing the threats from enemies’.

The 80-year-old leader was addressing at the anniversary event of historical allegiance of Air Force commanders with Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini. Khomeini had started an opposition movement from Paris in 1978 which was followed by the famous Iranian revolution that forced Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to relinquish his leadership.

Khomeini proclaimed an Islamic republic after toppling Pahlavi and 52 Americans were held hostage for more than a year. The US tried to rescue the hostages through a secret operation but had to abort the plan after eight service members died in a helicopter crash due to bad weather. 

Read: Republican Senators Urge Twitter To Ban Accounts Of Khamenei, Iranian Foreign Minister

Speaking at the event, Khamenei said that the Air Force was one of the closest forces to the regime and the US during Pahlavis’ rule. The Iranian leader added that the Air Force suddenly turned in favour of the revolution at the most sensitive time which caused a “blow to the enemy” that it didn’t expect.

“Our Air Force, which had no right to and couldn’t even repair parts of planes during the Pahlavis, now builds them. This is turning threats into opportunities. When did this become possible? When reliance on foreigners ended,” said Khamenei.

Read: Canada Urges Iran To Send Black Boxes Of Crashed Ukrainian Airliner To France

'Sanctions are literally crimes'

He further added that sanctions against Iran were there from the beginning and have now become intensified. “Sanctions are literally crimes, but they can be turned into opportunities and save Iran’s economy from reliance on oil. Reliance on oil leads to ignorance of domestic potential and strengths,” said the Supreme Leader. 

Meanwhile, a group of US Republican Senators urged Twitter to suspend the accounts of Khamenei and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.  The Senators wrote a letter to Twitter chief executive officer (CEO) Jack Dorsey to comply with the sanctions announced by US President Donald Trump through his executive order on June 24, 2019.

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