A photo posted on Khameni's Twitter account. Photo: Twitter.

In a speech to parliament, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday vowed to destroy the U.S., which he held responsible for distorting the world’s values and starting indiscriminate wars.

According to semi-official news agency Fars, Khamenei said,”Battle and jihad are endless because evil and its front continue to exist. … This battle will only end when the society can get rid of the oppressors’ front with America at the head of it, which has expanded its claws on human mind, body and thought. … This requires a difficult and lengthy struggle and need for great strides.”

He said, “Today’s world is full of thieves and plunderers of human honor, dignity and morality who are equipped with knowledge, wealth and power, and under the pretense of humanity easily commit crimes and betray human ideals and start wars in different parts of the world.”

On the question of Iran’s negotiations with world powers aimed at checking the development of its nuclear program, the Ayatollah said, “Those [Iranians] who want to promote negotiation and surrender to the oppressors and blame the Islamic Republic as a warmonger in reality commit treason.”

“The reason for continuation of this battle is not the warmongering of the Islamic Republic. Logic and reason command that for Iran, in order to pass through a region full of pirates, needs to arm itself and must have the capability to defend itself,” he said. “The accelerated scientific advancement of the last 12 years cannot stop under any circumstances.

The Ayatollah’s address to parliament was flagged by “Reza Kahlili,” the pseudonym of a former CIA operative in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards who now serves on the U.S. Task Force on National and Homeland Security and the advisory board of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran, writing in The Daily Caller.

The Ayatollah’s speech came after the fourth round of talks in Geneva ended without an agreement, and with Iran presenting its red lines, “including the expansion of research and development for its nuclear program, the need of the country to continue enrichment, and the fact that the country’s ballistic missile program — despite U.N. sanctions — is not up for negotiation,” Kahlili wrote.

“The Obama administration had hoped that with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif showing an eagerness to solve the nuclear issue and address the West’s concerns, there would be a possibility for a negotiated solution. An interim agreement penned last November in Geneva was touted as an ‘historic nuclear deal,'” Kahlili said.

“At the same time, IAEA officials met again with their Iranian counterparts last week in Tehran to discuss information on the work on detonators and needed collaboration by the regime to clear outstanding issues on its nuclear program as part of seven transparency steps Iran had agreed to fulfill by May 15, which has yet to take place,” Kahlili said.