Velayati: Some Mideast countries dream of restoring empires

Senior Iranian official says certain countries in the Middle East are harboring fantasies about resurrecting long-defunct empires in the region.

“Some countries in the region dream of reviving former empires which dominated the Arab countries, and certain countries support terrorism in the region for different motives,” Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said in a meeting with a Lebanese delegation in Tehran on Sunday.

He added that some Western and regional officials have already acknowledged their creation of terrorist groups in Syria and Iraq.

Velayati described the ongoing crisis in Syria as a “world war on a small-scale,” adding, “The satanic move of meddling in Syria is unprecedented in the contemporary history.”

He reaffirmed Iran’s support for the government of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying the Islamic Republic is opposed to any “foreign interference” in Syria’s internal affairs.

“The destiny of the Syrian people should be determined by themselves, not by anyone else,” he stressed, praising the Syrian president for defending the Syrian people’s interests.

Elsewhere, Velayati heaped praise on Lebanon for its resistance against the Israeli regime, saying, “Lebanon plays a significant role in forming the fight to counter Zionists and their supporters in the Muslim world and Arab world.”

He stressed that Iran “will keep supporting Lebanon.”