TEHRAN — Iran's supreme leader vowed Thursday to "resist any pressure and threat" after an international panel stuck with its decision to put the issue of his nation's nuclear program before the U.N. Security Council.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said pressure over the nuclear issue was the latest chapter in the United States' 27-year history of hostility toward the Islamic Republic.
In Washington, meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a congressional hearing that Iran must not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons, a capacity that Iran says it does not seek. She said Iran already was a risk to Israel and other countries in the Middle East.
"If you can take that and multiply it by several hundred, you can imagine Iran with a nuclear weapon and the threat they would then pose to that region," Rice said. "We may face no greater challenge from a single country."
Khamenei's pledge to persevere in the pursuit of what Iran insists is strictly a civilian nuclear energy program seemed to mark a hardening of position after the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors did not back away Wednesday from submitting a Feb. 27 report on Iran to the Security Council for possible action.
So far, however, Iranian officials' objections have been rhetorical and have not been accompanied by any concrete actions, such as severing cooperation with the IAEA or cutting off talks with Russia on a possible compromise.
Khamenei is the supreme religious authority and spiritual guide of Iran and is supposed to watch over all important decisions by the government.
In his remarks to the country's Assembly of Experts, he put the weight of his religious authority behind Iran's nuclear program, which some Western governments fear could lead to a covert effort to build atomic weapons.
He accused the United States of waging psychological war against Iran because, he said, Tehran's model of Islamic government is gaining popularity.
"Today in any election held in Islamic states, such as that in Iraq and Egypt, people will vote for Islamic groups," Khamenei said.
"Such facts make it almost impossible for [Iran's enemies] to tolerate the Islamic system."
Reiterating the official position here that uranium enrichment is permissible under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, Khamenei called the nuclear issue "an excuse." Even if Iran retreated from its nuclear ambitions, the leader said, the U.S. would find another reason to attack the regime because American officials fear Iran's growing influence in the region.
