ME urged to follow Iran’s anti-US lead

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia-Pacific Mohammad-Ali Fathollahi has urged regional nations to savor freedom and independence by following Iran’s anti-US lead.

“Iran has lived independent of the US for 30 years and this can be a good example for the regional nations to cast US aside,” Fathollahi said during a meeting with the media and NGO representatives in Ankara on Friday, IRNA reported.

Last month, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad described Turkey’s decision to host a radar system on its soil as imposing the US administration on the Turkish nation.

Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Selcuk Unal announced the country’s decision to host the missile shield on September 2, which was followed by criticism by Russia as NATO efforts to advance eastward.

Rejecting the US claim of offering democracy for the nations, Fathollahi said, “The US supported [former Egyptian dictator Hosni] Mubarak and [the former Tunisian dictator Zein El Abidin] Bin Ali and other [dictators] for 30 years, while shutting its eyes on democracy, rights, and justice.”

“The US did not call for and had no interest in the Islamic Awakening and the Arab Spring…but [the US] sought to divert the course of the public revolutions in the region to avert the growing scope of the protests against zionist israel,” he said.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister also said that the US and the zionist regime seek to instigate ethnic and religious strife in the region, stressing that the plot would be neutralized through the contiguity of religions.

“The contiguity of various faiths is vital for the growth, peace and stability of the region,” he said.