Khamenei says West will not defeat Iran

Western powers will not be able to bring Iran to its knees in nuclear negotiations, the Associated Press quoted the website of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying Tuesday.

"On the nuclear issue, the United States and European colonialist countries gathered and applied their entire efforts to bring the Islamic Republic to its knees but they could not and they will not," Khamenei said, speaking to a group of clerics.

The remarks were the first by the Iranian leader. He has final say on all state matters.

His comments come a day after Iran and major global powers agreed to decide by March 1 what needs to be done and on what kind of schedule. A final agreement is meant to follow four months later.

Khamenei has so far backed the nuclear talks and his reference to the future indicates that the extension of the talks would have his approval as well, the AP said.

Earlier on Monday and in a nationwide broadcast, Iran's President Hassan Rowhani told his nation that it "has achieved a significant victory" and that talks would “lead to a deal, sooner or later."

Rowhani also said many gaps in the talks "have been eliminated."

But he also vowed that Iran would not relinquish its right to nuclear capability.

The United States, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany, have engaged in intensive negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. Tehran has denied its nuclear research has any sort of military dimension.

(With AP)