Iran not to compromise with US

Commander of Iran's Basij (volunteer) Forces Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Naqdi said Friday that Iran will not compromise with the United States. Naqdi made the remarks in a rally held here Friday to mark the anniversary of "the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran" by Iranian students 33 years ago. The United States cut diplomatic relations with Iran in 1980 after a group of Iranian students captured some 60 U.S. diplomats in 1979. In the hostage crisis, 52 of the U.S. diplomats were held in captivity for 444 days. The Iranian nation will not compromise with the United States as the American officials do not change their policies towards other nations in the world, said the commander of Basij forces which are under the commandment of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC). To establish relations with the United States, the Americans " should accept Iranian nation's conditions" to "reconsider its policies" towards other nations in the world and to "shut down its military bases in 50 countries," said Naqdi. Iranians will not surrender to the United States' sanction pressures and to the United States' "plots" against the country, he said, alluding to the recent attempts by some Iranian expatriates and some Iranian politicians to restore relations with Washington in order to alleviate the pressures on the country's economy which has been hit significantly by the western sanctions over the country's controversial nuclear program. On Oct. 2, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that direct talks with the United States on bilateral relations was " possible, but the conditions should be met." Ahmadinejad said that international relations were based on " dialogue principle," but these dialogues should be based on " justice and respect," he said, adding it would be a "mistake" if one side intends to push the other to come to negotiation table under "pressure." Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi denied on Oct. 21 media reports that the United States and Iran had agreed for the first time to have one-on-one talks over the latter's controversial nuclear program. Iran has made all the progress by resisting the U.S. policies and confronting them, stressed the Iranian Basij commander on Friday, arguing that it is not "rational" then to re-establish ties and compromise with the United States as its military power has "declined" and "defeated" in the region over the past years and the Americans are even "weaker" in comparison to 32 years ago when the diplomatic relations between two countries were severed.