‘Bloody Yemen raid betrays evil nature of world bullies’

Tehran:- Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has deplored the Saudi-led military offensive to seize Yemen's lifeline port, saying the US-backed assault is yet another indicator of the evil nature of bullying powers.

Ayatollah Khamenei said Wednesday that the "bloody" and "criminal" attacks against Hudaydah by a number of countries possessing advanced weapons and with an aim to strip the Yemeni people of their control over a vital seaport "is another example of the evil nature of world bullies."

The Leader made the comments during a meeting with Iran's Majlis (Parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani and a number of parliamentarians in Tehran.

The coalition has been attacking the port city, which takes in the bulk of the already-impoverished nation's imports, since June 13.

The allies have been bombing Yemen since 2015 to restore its Riyadh-friendly former government.

The US and some of its allies provide the Saudi-led forces with logistical support, bombing coordinates, a commando contingent, and aerial refueling.

'US child detentions'

The Leader also pointed to the US policy of separating migrant children from their families, and criticized the harrowing nature of the practice. 

"The Americans, though, carry out the separation "with utmost malevolence," the Leader noted.

'Iran won't bow down to bully tactics'

Ayatollah Khamenei said, "These enemies of humanity exercise animosity against the Islamic Republic because of the Iranian people's steadfastness and egalitarianism."

"But by divine grace and through domestic resoluteness, the Iranian nation will be victorious against the United States and other enemies," the Leader asserted.

He also described Iran's enemies as ransom-seekers and bullies incarnate, and noted that "the [Islamic] establishment, nation, and authorities will never bow down to bully tactics."

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei addresses Iranian parliamentarians in Tehran, June 20, 2018.

Over the past 40 years, a huge enemy front has been formed against the Iranian nation and has adopted the most severe of antagonistic measures from waging war to imposing sanctions and devising security plots, but to no avail, the Leader noted.

Today, Ayatollah Khamenei stated, Iran takes pride in its ever-increasing power, scientific achievements and international presence and has come a long way since the onset of the Islamic Revolution.

Elsewhere in the meeting, the Leader provided the legislative branch with guidelines about joining international conventions.

Ayatollah Khamenei cautioned the parliamentarians against the content of international conventions which are mostly drawn up by hegemonic powers, adding that the parties that later join those treaties play no role in drafting them.

The conventions are then ratified by the governments, which are either aligned with those powers, intimidated by them, or accompany them in their policies, and thus take on an apparently international disposition.

Ayatollah Khamenei said that hence, when an independent country like the Islamic Republic chooses to refuse such conventions, it is subjected to severe criticism. "Why don't you accede to a convention when 150 countries have already done so?" the critics would say, according to the Leader.

The Leader urged the Parliament to act independently and pass its own laws on various subjects, including terrorism and money laundering.