Castro: US in checkmate over Iran

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro

Former Cuban President Fidel Castro has said Washington is in a checkmate position with Tehran, reiterating the devastating consequences of any US threats against Iran and the danger of a global nuclear war.

"The Yankees are in a checkmate, no matter how intelligent they are," Castro said at a meeting with Cuban journalists on Sunday, where he presented his argument about the threat of a nuclear war. 

Castro stressed the destructive consequences of a nuclear war for the world, saying that nobody will survive after such a war breaks out. 

According to Xinhua, he said that US President Barack Obama is the one who will decide whether a nuclear war will occur. 

"He (Obama) has the constitutional power. He has the say. What he can ask for is only one thing, peace," Castro said. 

In early August, Castro delivered a speech to the Cuban parliament to warn against US threats against Iran and the danger of a global nuclear war. 

The former Cuban leader warned in the country's parliament that an attack on Iran could push the world to the brink of a "nuclear holocaust," which would take the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. 

"If war breaks out, the current social order will suddenly disappear and the price will be infinitely greater," Castro said. 

"Does anyone think the Iranians, a people with a culture of thousands of years and which is much more intertwined with death than ours, will lack the courage we have shown in resisting the demands of the United States?" the former Cuban leader asked. 

On June 9, the UN Security Council approved a resolution, brokered and pushed ahead by Washington, which imposed new sanctions on Iran. The measure was soon followed by more unilateral sanctions by the US and the European Union, mainly targeting the Islamic Republic's oil and gas sector. 

Iran argues that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency it has the right to develop and seek access to civilian nuclear technology. 

Tehran has downplayed the significance of the punitive measures and has vowed to stand up to the US and Israeli threats to strike its nuclear facilities. 

Castro, who turned 84 on August 13, returned to public life on July 7 after four years of convalescence from a serious illness in which he handed over power to his brother Raul.