CNews TEHRAN: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said that Iran would not retreat in the face of demands by world powers for Tehran to halt sensitive nuclear work.
"Taking one step back against arrogant (powers) will lead to them to take one step forward," Khamenei was quoted as saying by state television in a sermon. His comments come ahead of a Saturday deadline for Iran to respond to a package of incentives aimed at persuading it to freeze uranium enrichment, a process that makes nuclear fuel but also the core of an atomic bomb.
Iran on July 19 held talks with representatives of major powers including EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and for the first time an official from Tehran's arch-foe the United States, William Burns. Iran was given until Saturday to give its final answer. But Iran has rejected any deadline, saying it was agreed in Geneva that it would during a two-week period examine the proposal put forward by permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany.
"Taking one step back against arrogant (powers) will lead to them to take one step forward," Khamenei was quoted as saying by state television in a sermon. His comments come ahead of a Saturday deadline for Iran to respond to a package of incentives aimed at persuading it to freeze uranium enrichment, a process that makes nuclear fuel but also the core of an atomic bomb.
Iran on July 19 held talks with representatives of major powers including EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and for the first time an official from Tehran's arch-foe the United States, William Burns. Iran was given until Saturday to give its final answer. But Iran has rejected any deadline, saying it was agreed in Geneva that it would during a two-week period examine the proposal put forward by permanent UN Security Council members Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States plus Germany.
