Khamenei defiant amid sanctions pressure

Economic pressure on the Iranian government won't dissuade the country from continuing on its current path, the ruling cleric said. U.S. and European sanctions on the Iranian energy sector are meant to curtail funds suspected of funding Iran's nuclear program, which Tehran maintains is for peaceful purposes. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said economic pressures exerted by foreign governments aren't discouraging factors for Tehran. "They explicitly say that by intensifying the pressure and the sanctions, they are seeking to force Iranian officials to reconsider their calculations," he was quoted by state-funded broadcaster Press TV as saying. "But in reality, we will not rethink our calculations, and we will continue to trod the path of the Iranian nation more resolutely." Khamenei was said to have issued a religious edict in February explicitly forbidding weapons of mass destruction. In his most recent speech, he said "arrogant governments" were using Iran's "nuclear energy program" as an excuse to take a hostile stance against Iran. U.S. President Barack Obama, speaking to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Reno, Nev., this week, said the U.S. government and its military are working to ensure regimes like Iran and North Korea aren't threats to the international community.