TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The slogan “Death to America” is not aimed at the American people, but rather American policies, Iran’s supreme leader said in comments reported on his official website Tuesday.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei discussed the slogan while meeting with Iranian students ahead of the anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979. Militant students stormed the compound and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.
The two countries have had no diplomatic relations since then. However, current President Hassan Rouhani has made efforts to improve relations, including a landmark nuclear agreement reached with world powers this past summer.
Khamenei says the “aim of the slogan is not death to American people. The slogan means death to U.S. policies and arrogance.” The slogan has “strong support” In Iran, he said.
Khamenei and hard-liners in the Iranian government remain deeply suspicious of the United States and view its policies a threat to the country.
He reiterated his warning that the U.S. is not to be trusted despite the nuclear deal reached with the U.S., Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany. The agreement promises Tehran relief from crippling economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program.
Khamenei also expressed his apparent belief that the U.S. “will not hesitate” if given a chance to destroy Iran.
“The nature of the U.S. attitude is continuation of the same hostile aims from the past, and the nation will not forget this,” Khamenei said.
However, anti-American sentiment is rife in Iran. As every year, ahead of the anniversary, the Tehran municipality displays anti-American posters and billboards along the Iranian capital’s main squares and key streets.
One such billboard this year — at Tehran’s Vali-e asr Square — represents a mock-up of the historic and Pulitzer Prize-winning 1945 “Raising the Flag at Iwo Jima” photo by Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal, one of the iconic images from World War II. Except in the billboard, the hands of the Marines are stained red from blood and instead of rocks and stones, the U.S. troops are standing on a pile of corpses.
http://news.yahoo.com/iran-ayatollah-death-america-refers-us-policies-105914348.html
The ayatollah understands that Americans are a nation of brainwashed fools, so he doesn’t blame us.
Want some respect in this world? Try using your brain for something other than a garbage can that’s filled with Zionist crap.
It’s a joke that people feel the need to explain that condemning a regimes policies and practices is not the same as condemning the people of the nation who may or may not be in support of the said regime. Zionist crap indeed.
Back when I was very young, I’d dismiss foreign criticisms of the US without a second thought. I took it for granted that the US government was “the good guys” — sometimes misguided, and certainly not perfect, but always well-meaning. I’d scoff at those who referred to the US as “The Great Satan.”
Not anymore. The US is an oligarchy run by power-mad psychopaths who seek to rule the world through violence, terror, lies, and propaganda. I realize that foreign governments are hardly all saints, but the US government poses the greatest threat to humanity on account its evil intentions coupled with its military power.
Of course, a majority of US citizens are cattle: clueless, brainwashed, and/or apathetic. They’ve been convinced of an absurdity: that countries like Iran, or even Muslims living in caves overseas, pose a significant threat to the safety of Americans. Meanwhile, many remain completely blind to the genuine peril we face from our own government, which hates our freedom and will do anything to destroy it.
Opinion polls, for whatever they’re worth, do seem to show that a lot of Americans are waking up. But will it be “too little, too late”? Will they have to learn the hard way, as usual?
My mother taught me at a very early age that actions speak louder than words. I was also taught that we were free. So very early in life I watched what happened to “free” people when they hurt no one but broke some man made law. Our government at all levels is evil. It can only be cured of this sickness if it and the people who participate in it are burned to the ground. I will not add “starting over”. Free people need no government and cannot be free in the presence of any form of government.
“Militant students stormed the compound and took 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.”
Until the (s)election here was ‘decided’. What a freakin’ joke THAT was.
“The nature of the U.S. attitude is continuation of the same hostile aims from the past, and the nation will not forget this,” Khamenei said.”
He’s afraid to call a spade a spade.
He knows damn well the stinking jews are behind it all.