DUBAI: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday blamed countries outside the Middle East for the region’s turmoil, and the Shia cleric said regional states backing radical Sunni Islamists would be damaged by conflict.
Khamenei made the comments in a meeting with Oman’s H M Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who was in Tehran on a visit Iranian media said may be an effort to mediate between the United States and the Islamic Republic.
If so, Khamenei’s comments appeared to be a rebuff of those efforts.
“The main reason behind the status quo in the region is interference from outside the region,” the state news agency Fars quoted Khamenei as saying in a meeting with Qaboos.
Khamenei and other top officials in the Islamic Republic frequently call on the United States and European powers to stop what they call interference in the Middle East, accusing them of a plot to take over the region.
His other comments appeared to be directed at Middle Eastern states supporting rebels fighting to topple Syrian President Bashar Al Assad, a close ally of Shia Iran.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif spoke to his Syrian counterpart yesterday and condemned the use of chemical weapons by what he called terrorists. His spokesman also warned against Western military strikes on Syria.
“At a time when the Syrian crisis is at a critical stage due to the use of chemical weapons by terrorists and the region needs peace and patience, talking about readiness to militarily attack Syria without the approval of the Security Council is a dangerous ... thing to do,” the state Press TV quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Araqchi as saying.
“Any miscalculation of the situation in Syria would throw the entire region into a dangerous and complicated stage which will ... engulf all regional countries,” he said.
REUTERS
