Chairman of Iran's Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said the permanent US military base in the Middle East confirms that the West is wary of the solidarity among Muslims.
Rafsanjani, who is also the head of the Assembly of Experts, made the remark in a meeting with a number of clerics in Tehran Wednesday.
The United States and other hegemonic powers have established a military presence in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon because they are afraid of the unity between the people and the clerics, Rafsanjani was quoted by press tv as saying.
"Iran and the Islamic Revolution are regarded by Americans as obstacles in the way of achieving their objectives in the region," he said, adding that the clerics have become the prime target of the United States.
The enemies are seeking to tarnish the reputation of clerics by downplaying their positive roles in the state affairs, he added.
Rafsanjani called on clerics and all Iranians to stay alert against the enemies' plots.
Iran and the United States broke diplomatic relations in April 1980, after Iranian students seized the United States' espionage center at its embassy in the heart of Tehran. The two countries have had tense relations ever since.
Iran and the Untied States have been locked in a standoff over Tehran's progress in the field of nuclear technology.
The United States and its close ally Israel accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, while they have never presented any corroborative document to substantiate their allegations. Iran vehemently denies the charges, insisting that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.
Iran has also insisted that it would continue enriching uranium because it needs to provide fuel to a 300-megawatt light-water reactor it is building in the southwestern town of Darkhoveyn as well as its first nuclear power plant in the southern port city of Bushehr.
Tel Aviv and Washington have recently intensified their threats to launch military action against Iran to make Tehran drop what they allege to be a non-peaceful nuclear program, while a recent report by 16 US intelligence bodies endorsed the civilian nature of Iran's programs.
Following the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) and similar reports by the IAEA head - one in November and the other one in February - which praised Iran's truthfulness about key aspects of its past nuclear activities and announced settlement of outstanding issues with Tehran, any effort to impose further sanctions or launch military attack on Iran seems to be completely irrational.
The February report by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, praised Iran's cooperation in clearing up all of the past questions over its nuclear program, vindicating Iran's nuclear program and leaving no justification for any new UN sanctions.
Following the said reports by US and international bodies, many world states have called the UN Security Council pressure against Tehran unjustified, demanding that Iran's case must be normalized and returned from the UNSC to the IAEA.
(Source: Fars News Agency)
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