Iranian security chief: U.S. hegemony should end

The period of global domination of the United States should come to an end, the head of Iran's Supreme National Council said on Monday. "We should say goodbye to the period of U.S. hegemony," Saeed Jalili said at a news conference at the Moscow State University of International Relations. "The Islamic Republic is against the hegemony of the U.S. and NATO," he continued. Iran and the United States broke off diplomatic relations in 1979. The U.S. and other Western nations accuse Iran of attempting to build weapons under the guise of peaceful nuclear energy generation and demand Teheran suspend its controversial uranium enrichment program. Tehran has repeatedly rejected the demand, insisting it is pursuing a purely civilian program. "If we are talking about democracy, if we're talking about relationships in the world, they too must be democratic," Jalili said. Iran is currently under four sets of UN sanctions over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.