A general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), stipulated on Saturday, that President Barack Obama, as well as leaders of the European Union (EU) should convert to Islam in order for there to be peace between the United States and Iran to be possible. The report that has been carried by Al-Arabiya in Arabic has been translated in other outlets.

Brigadier General Qolamhossein Qeib-parvar speaking on Saturday at a local conference commemorating Kazerun martyrs said “There are only two things that would end enmity between us and the US. Either the US president and EU leaders should convert to Islam and imitate the Supreme Leader, or Iran should abandon Islam and the Islamic revolution.” EU or US leaders would not turn Muslim, he observed, adding “If they are not going to turn Muslim, we are not going to abandon Islam or the revolution either. But I do not know why some people believe that some day we will make peace with the US and start relations with them.”

Rather than moderating Iran, the nuclear negotiations have hardened Iran’s attitudes towards the West generally and towards the United States specifically. In the wake of last month’s agreement to extend the P5+1 nuclear talks for another seven months, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif claimed that a final deal would guarantee Iran a “serious” nuclear enrichment program with no sanctions. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and other leaders declared the extension a “victory” over the West. A senior adviser to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei asserted that the negotiations showed America’s “weakness.”

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