Iran leader threatens energy embargo amid sanctions

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s supreme leader warned Wednesday that Western sanctions are unlikely to be lifted even in the event of a nuclear deal with six foreign powers because the West opposes the fundamental principles of the country’s Islamic revolution.

In a speech to economists and officials from the western city of Tabriz, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast doubt on the likelihood of success in the decadelong negotiation over Iran’s nuclear capabilities and threatened to play his own sanctions card if the restraints on the Iranian economy aren’t lifted.

“The enemy is going to use the weapon of sanctions to the hilt because their goal is to stop the progress of our people,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by the official Islamic Republic News Agency. “Even if we were to allow them to dictate to us on the nuclear issue, the sanctions will not be lifted because they are against the foundational principles of the revolution.”

Iranian negotiators have been in intense talks with representatives of the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany for more than a year in pursuit of an agreement that would put to rest Western concerns that Tehran’s nuclear industry development is aimed at giving the Shiite Islamic powerhouse atomic weapons capabilities. Iran insists its nuclear production is strictly for peaceful, civilian purposes.

The negotiations have been extended repeatedly over the past year as both sides have at times said an agreement was within reach. They now face a June 30 deadline for an accord, which Khamenei appeared to suggest wouldn’t be met.

“If their intent is to retain sanctions, the Iranian nation can go that route as well,” the supreme religious leader said in Tehran. “Iran has the world’s most gas and oil, and if need be Iran can hold back gas that Europe and the world is so dependent on.”

There are disagreements about Iran’s claims to have the largest oil and gas reserves, which depend in part on disputed offshore supplies that Saudi Arabia also claims. Even without those, however, it has what the United States calculates as the world’s fourth-largest crude oil reserves and second-largest natural gas deposits.

Khamenei earlier this month suggested he could “go along with the agreement in the making” at the negotiating forum known as the 5P(plus)1 group, for the five permanent U.N. Security Council member states plus Germany. But in that Feb. 8 address to a military gathering, he also hinted at Tehran’s ability to retaliate in kind if an agreement failed to bring an end to the sanctions crippling Iran’s economy.