Pursuit of knowledge led West to plunder

Iran’s Majlis Speaker says the Western-led wars in the region show their pursuit of knowledge has not led to refinement rather it has increased their abilities to plunder the wealth of the Middle East.

Ali Larijani said on Monday that the US has spent billions of dollars on the invasion and occupation of Iraq, adding, “These expenses led to several thousand deaths. Instead of building schools in the region, the US has set up more [military] bases, which is a disaster for Westerners.”

Larijani added that another Western policy for looting the assets of the region is staging “sectarian strife.”

“The West tried to move closer to its objectives by disrupting the unity of the people of the region and what is more interesting is that in the past two years the US has sold more than USD 18 billion in arms in the Persian Gulf region.”

In March, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held talks in Saudi Arabia about plans for a Persian Gulf missile shield system to counter what she described as potential threats from Iran.

She said in an address to a [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council-US Strategic Cooperation Forum in Riyadh that Washington was aiming for “practical and specific steps to strengthen our mutual security, such as helping our militaries improve interoperability, cooperate on maritime security and missile defense, and coordinate responses to crises.”