VOA标准英语2009-Iran's Parliament Speaker Blasts US Actions

（单词翻译）

By Elizabeth Arrott
Cairo
15 November 2009

Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, has criticized U.S. President Barack Obama, arguing that his promise to change U.S. policy toward Tehran amounts to nothing.

 
Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani (file photo)
Speaker Larijani said after a year of U.S. President Barack Obama's speeches and slogans, it is a "disgrace" the U.S. president's actions are the same as his predecessor¹.

Larijani argued two actions last week showed that little had changed in U.S. policy since the presidency² of George W. Bush. The Iranian lawmaker decried³ the extension of U.S. sanctions against Iran for another year.

Last Thursday, Mr. Obama renewed the long-standing injunctions imposed in the early days of the Islamic Revolution against financial dealings with Iran. 

The same day, U.S. prosecutors⁵ moved to seize property belonging to companies accused of transferring money illegally to the Islamic Republic.

Among the assets eyed by the prosecutors are several American mosques⁶ and a New York skyscraper⁷ owned by the Alavi Foundation and the Assa Corporation. They are accused of sending money to the Iran's state-owned Bank Melli.

The U.S. Treasury⁸ says Bank Melli helps pay for weapons proliferation, and forbids U.S. citizens from dealing⁴ with it.

The Alavi foundation disputes the allegations, but says it is cooperating with investigators⁹.  

Larijani also rejected the latest Western proposal to resolve questions about Iran's nuclear program, dismissing it as "unimportant" and "irrational¹⁰." The plan calls for Iran to send uranium abroad for enrichment, but Tehran countered with conditions to what was presented as a take-it-or-leave-it proposition.

After a forum¹¹ in Singapore, President Obama and Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said time was running out for Iran to accept the plan.

Washington and others are concerned Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, while Tehran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes.