TEHRAN – The secretary of Supreme National Security Council says Iran’s power, which “is drawn from spiritual influence” cannot be subject to sanctions.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Ali Shamkhani said the West’s lack of knowledge about Islam, Shiism, and the capacity of the Marja has misled them to defeat upon many occasions over the past four decades.

In reference to U.S. military threats against Iran and its new sanctions against top Iranian authorities including Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the top security official said threatening Iran with military attack and sanctioning the Leader belies the West’s misapprehension of the mechanisms of the spiritual influence in “creating and expanding power.”

Shamkhani added, “Threatening the interests of the Islamic Republic, at any rate and in any form, will surely entail retaliatory action by Iran and the network of lovers of the Islamic Republic in the region and around the world.” 

SP/PA