Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Mar. 07 A top Ayatollah told theologians of Irans Assembly of Experts, an exclusively clerical body that designates the countrys all-powerful Supreme Leader, on Tuesday that Irans nuclear pursuit guarantees the existence of the Islamic Republic. Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Mar. 07 A top Ayatollah told theologians of Irans Assembly of Experts, an exclusively clerical body that designates the countrys all-powerful Supreme Leader, on Tuesday that Irans nuclear pursuit guarantees the existence of the Islamic Republic.
The continuation of Irans peaceful nuclear activities guarantees Irans future existence and prosperity, Speaker Ayatollah Ali Meshkini said in his inaugural address.
Meshkini said that Europe was walking in the steps of the Great Satan (United States) by siding with Washington over Tehrans nuclear program.
The senior Ayatollah also took a jab at U.S. President George W. Bush, describing his election as the greatest loss for the American people.
In other parts of his speech, he claimed that the recent bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in the Iraqi city of Samarra was a plot by the occupiers of Iraq as well as Israel.
In February, Iran Focus obtained an exclusive list of senior officials of the clerical regime which included Meshkini and the personal fortune each one had amassed. Meshkini was number four in the rich-list. In a country where many of the theocracys ruling elite are in-laws, Meshkini is father in law to Mohammad Reyshahri, the Islamic Republics first Minister of Intelligence and Security. Meshkinis personal wealth, coming in from mostly sugar trade and the sale of industrial-scale printers, is well above three trillion Rials, the equivalent of $330 million.