Iran’s supreme leader criticizes U.S. military moves

Published 11:11 am Friday, February 19, 2010

TEHRAN, Iran — From the deck of Iran’s new guided-missile destroyer, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today criticized the U.S. military presence in the Gulf and said Washington was trying to frighten Iran’s Arab neighbors into buying its weapons.

Khamenei made the comments after taking a tour of the destroyer Jamaran, which was launched today at a Gulf port. State television, which broadcast the event, said the warship was the country’s first domestically built destroyer and a major technological leap for Iran’s naval industries.

Using the backdrop of military might, Khamenei declared that America and Israel were trying to sow divisions between Iran and Arab nations.

“The U.S. and the Zionist regime are trying to spread divisions to distract the attention of Islamic nations from the main enemies of the Islamic world, which are the U.S. and Israel,” Khamenei said in remarks broadcast on state TV.

Khamenei also insisted his country is not seeking nuclear weapons, saying Islam forbids weapons of mass destruction.

“Because of this reason, we don’t have any belief in the atomic bomb and don’t pursue it,” he said.

The denial came as France and Germany threatened to seek fresh sanctions against Iran, a day after the U.N. nuclear agency suggested that Tehran has either resumed working on a nuclear weapon or never stopped in 2007, as concluded by a U.S. intelligence assessment.

Iran maintains its nuclear work is only for peaceful purposes like energy generation.

Germany’s leading insurance companies — Munich Re AG and Allianz SE — also announced they would quit doing business in the Islamic republic after the International Atomic Energy Agency report.

Iran already is weathering three sets of Security Council sanctions meant to punish its refusal to freeze its uranium enrichment program. Its recent rejection of a plan meant to strip it of most of its enriched stockpile plus its belated acknowledgment that it had been secretly building a new enrichment facility has increased sentiment for a fourth set.

“This report confirms with precision the international community’s very serious concerns,” French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said. “It shows how urgent it is to act with determination to respond to the absence of cooperation by Iran.”

Khamenei, wearing clerical robes and a turban and walking with a cane as he inspected the ship, said the presence of foreign forces in the Persian Gulf “disturbs security” in the region but Washington will fail to achieve its goals.

U.S. military officials said last month that Washington was deploying upgraded Patriot missiles in Arab nations in the region and more U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf capable of destroying missiles in flight.

The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet is also based in the Arab nation of Bahrain, just across the Gulf from Iran.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Qatar and Saudi Arabia this week to discuss Iran, warning that Tehran could set off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East if it chooses to develop atomic weapons.

The predominantly Sunni Arab Middle East — and Gulf nations in particular — have been wary of the growing influence of Shiite Iran, especially because of international suspicions that its nuclear program has a military dimension.

Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters and is the commander in chief of Iran’s armed forces, said accusations by President Barack Obama and other American officials about Iran’s nuclear ambitions were made out of anger.

“Repeating absurd words about the building of nuclear weapon in Iran shows that the enemies are resorting to repeating the propaganda out of ultimate failure,” Khamenei said.

The 308-foot destroyer, which weighs 1,500 tons and has a helipad and modern radar, was launched in Bandar Abbas, a southern port city just at the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic point in the Gulf through which much of the world’s oil and other energy supplies pass.

The warship is equipped with anti-ship and surface-to-air missiles as well as torpedoes and naval cannons, state television said. Khamenei’s attendance was a sign of the significance that Iran attached to the event.

Iran has declared many such advances in its military industries and sciences to demonstrate self-sufficiency despite sanctions and attempts by the U.S. and its allies to isolate the country over its nuclear program.

The ship has a top speed of about 35 mph and can carry 120 to 140 personnel, state TV said, adding that a second destroyer is now under construction.