Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei gestures before addressing the public gathering in Shiraz, Fars province, April 30.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the Iranian nation is determined to resist all threats or sanctions, and foil attempts by enemies to magnify Iranian problems.
Ayatollah Khamenei made the remark on Wednesday in an address to a huge public gathering in Shiraz, IRNA reported.
“The Iranian nation will turn all threats imposed by the enemies into opportunities and bring development and pride to the country,“ he said.
Ayatollah Khamenei noted that by relying on their historical and cultural achievements, the pious Iranian nation have made the Islamic Revolution victorious and helped attain independence, national dignity, welfare and prosperity.
“Any nation should tolerate difficulties to attain its prime goals and aspirations,“ he said, citing eight years of Sacred Defense (the 1980-88 Iraq-imposed war), fight against terrorism, resistance against threats as well as economic sanctions as some of the hardships borne by the Iranian nation.
The leader pointed out that the Iranian nation, from the early phases of the Islamic Revolution, faced economic sanctions and embargoes but managed to turn all threats into opportunities.
“I advise you to remember that this great nation has never been afraid of economic sanctions,“ he said.
Ayatollah Khamenei noted that the international capitalist system, through its extensive political propaganda, made huge efforts to force Iran to abandon its legitimate right to nuclear energy but to no avail.
He added that the pace of Iran’s development frightened them such that they exerted more pressure on Iran, while ignoring the fact that the Iranian nation will turn all these threats into opportunities for its development.
“The foreign media try to exploit all factors, including even natural disasters, droughts and price hikes which are rampant throughout the world, in order to put more pressure on the Iranian nation and officials. Therefore it is necessary that people exercise more vigilance,“ he said.
The leader further said that the ongoing economic crisis crippling the world has been unprecedented in the past 60 years.
“This crisis has forced the UN to declare a global alert over food shortages, but foreign radios imply that the current price hikes and inflation in the country have resulted from the carelessness of Iranian officials which, of course, is not true,“ he said.
“Thanks to Almighty God, the problems in Iran are much less than those in other countries.“
Ayatollah Khamenei said enemies are trying to magnify Iranian problems and this will be resolved through a timely and precise economic plan.
“Current problems such as drought require the collective effort of people and officials,“ he said.

Barack Obama is looking to get his campaign back on track today after making a strong effort to distance himself from his controversial former pastor.
An angry Obama told reporters yesterday he was “outraged“ by what he called a “performance“ by Jeremiah Wright at the National Press Club in Washington on Monday and added that he was “saddened by the spectacle“, AP reported.
Wright used the forum to reiterate some of his charges against the US government, including his suggestion that the government invented the AIDS virus to destroy “people of color“.
Obama calls the comments “divisive and destructive“ and says “they end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate“.
The Illinois senator will hold a major rally tonight at Indiana University six days before crucial Democratic primaries in Indiana and North Carolina. Thirteen hours after his former pastor startled some with a defiant performance that was televised nationwide, Obama urged 18,000 supporters to stay calm and shrug off such ’distractions’.
By next afternoon, however, his tone was dramatically different.
The Illinois senator summoned reporters on Tuesday to say he was outraged by the Rev. Wright’s “divisive and destructive“ remarks, scrambling to contain the flare-up in a controversy that has dogged him since clips of some of Wright’s most objectionable remarks began circulating on TV and the Internet.

The Cabinet has decided to fix the bank profit rate at 12 percent for 2008-9, an informed source said on Wednesday.
Speaking to Fars News Agency, the unnamed source added that after expert studies of the administration’s Economic Commission in the past few weeks, the Cabinet in its Wednesday meeting fixed the banking profit rate at 12 percent.
Governor of Central Bank of Iran Tahmasb Mazaheri also told reporters that the inflation rate rose further during the Persian month of Farvardin (March 20-April 19).
“CBI took measures to control the inflation rate during 2007-8, as much as the monetary policies allowed. A hike in inflation stems from fiscal and budgetary policies, as well as imports. In 2007-8, we brought discipline to the banking system,“ he said.
The CBI chief recalled that liquidity growth in 2007-8 reached 27.7 percent.
“This is while the same figure stood at 35 percent in 2006-7,“ he said.
Mazaheri underlined that measures have been taken for ensuring a healthy cash flow for economic projects.