Iran kicked off ten days of celebrations commemorating Jimmy Carter's withdrawal of support for the Shah of Iran, thereby kicking the props out from under the government. Oh, they phrased it a bit differently, calling it the victory of Khomeini's revolution. But they are promising a really big announcement about their nuclear program in ten days to wrap up the festivities.
Iranian officials have promised a major announcement of progress in its controversial programme during the 10-day celebration, but leaders first focused on emphasising Iran's defiance in the nuclear standoff and its position of strength.
"The language of sanctions belongs to the past," President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said as he paid tribute at the shrine of the 1979 revolution's late founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the IRNA news agency reported Thursday.
"Iran is a powerful nation with extensive ties and other nations will support us even if they are pressured," he added, flanked by Khomeini's grandson Hassan.
Sanctions "will not affect a great nation. We have expanding economic ties and they can, at most, be just an irritation to our people.
"Our nation has always moved in a lawful, peaceful direction and it seeks to exercise its definitive inalienable rights," said Ahmadinejad, referring to Iran's oft-repeated insistence that it will not halt uranium enrichment.
Tehran has defied calls to suspend enrichment, rejecting US allegations it wants nuclear weapons and insisting its atomic drive is solely aimed at producing energy.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution in December imposing sanctions on Iran for its refusal to freeze enrichment although the measures are not seen as far-reaching enough to hurt Iran's wider economy.
Unfortunately, all the reported political unrest with Iran recently doesn't appear to have changed much in that country's attitudes or policies.
