Khamenei ... Alive, and rejects UN resolution

TEHRAN: Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday emphatically rejected a UN resolution over Iran’s controversial atomic plans, vowing that the Islamic republic would not back down in its nuclear drive. Khamenei’s intervention on a major Muslim holiday, which also confirmed he was in good health despite rumours otherwise, was his first official reaction to the UN Security Council’s move in December to impose sanctions on Tehran.

“The Iranian nation undoubtedly will not refrain from their right (to nuclear energy) and the country’s officials do not have the right to refrain from the nation’s rights,” Khamanei said in a speech on state television. The UN Security Council imposed its first ever sanctions on Iran over Tehran’s failure to heed calls to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can be used both to make nuclear fuel or a nuclear bomb.