U.S., West can't thwart Tehran's nuclear program- Ali Larijani

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iranian Parliament speaker Ali Larijani said Sunday, Nov 20 that no action by the U.S. or Western nations could thwart Tehran's nuclear program, especially as the U.S. government suffers from a lack of legitimacy due to Occupy Wall Street protests, according to Jerusalem Post.

The official Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Larijani as saying that U.S. plots to tamper with Iran's nuclear development would "never solve their problems of falling behind events in the region."

Speaking in Tehran to the opening session of the Iranian parliament (Majlis), Larijani said that such actions would only deepen U.S. foreign policy failures, especially as the U.S. government suffers from a "lack of legitimacy" amid ongoing Occupy Wall Street protests in the U.S.

Larjani noted that while "regional revolutions" continue in the Middle East, the U.S. will be powerless to "save dictators ruling in the region," according to the IRNA report.

The Iranian army last Friday began conducting a four-day training exercise to test its defenses, state TV reported on Saturday, amid rising international tensions over Iran's nuclear program.

Press TV said the war games were taking place over 800,000 square km in the east of the country.

"The initial stage of the drills will assess the units' performance in setting up primary and secondary command centers and stationing tactical and swift reaction divisions," Press TV said.