(Jerusalem, Israel) — “Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country would not step back from its nuclear rights and his negotiating team had set limits for talks over Iran’s disputed nuclear program to resume in Geneva later on Wednesday,” reported the Jerusalem Post. ” Khamenei took swipes at Israel and France during his speech to tens of thousands of volunteer Basij militiamen in Tehran, broadcast live on Iran’s Press TV.”

“Zionist officials cannot be called humans, they are like animals, some of them,” said Khamenei. “The Israeli regime is doomed to failure and annihilation,” he added.

“The ‘Zionist regime’ says things that ‘only bring humiliation on themselves,’ he said adding that it is a regime that ’emerged through force and no phenomenon that has emerged through force has continued to exist, and this regime will not continue to exist either,'” the Iranian leader insisted….

“The leader also criticized France. French President Francois Hollande assured Israel on Sunday that France would continue to oppose an easing of economic sanctions against Iran until it was convinced Tehran had given up any pursuit of nuclear weapons,” noted the Post.

The Times of Israel reported that “President Francois Hollande believes comments by Iran’s supreme leader about Israel are ‘unacceptable’ and complicate talks between world powers and the Islamic regime over its nuclear program,” according to a French government spokesperson.