Larijani alarms Tunisia of opportunists

Following a historic revolution in Tunisia, Iranian Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani has cautioned the Tunisian nation to exercise vigilance against opportunism in foreign countries.

“The move by the Muslim Tunisian people to restore their rights shows their vigilance. However, they should be cautious about measures by certain countries, which used to support the previous structure in Tunisia until a few days ago, aimed at imposing their own (power),” IRNA quoted Larijani as speaking during a Majlis session on Sunday.

He described as “ridiculous” the attitude of the United States and certain Western states and emphasized that countries which previously contributed to the root cause of pressure on the Tunisian people, now pretend to be sympathetic to the North African nation.

“There are important developments in the region and the world on which regional countries should focus,” the senior Iranian official went on to say.

Weeks of bloody protests over corruption, unemployment, and high food prices, unabated demonstrations through Tunisia’s capital forced 74-year-old Tunisian ruler Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali to cede power after 23 years in office on Friday night.

Tunisia’s Constitutional Council has announced the country’s Parliament Speaker Fouad Mebazaa as the interim leader, formally ousting Ben Ali from office.

Larijani further pointed to the new American adventurism in Lebanon to gloss over its diplomatic failures in the region and said, “However, it is not the time that Washington can use the vigilance of Muslims to promote its own objectives through deceit.”

He stressed that the brave Lebanese nation would vigilantly give a response to this “unfair political attitude.”