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Khamenei Condemns UK Calling it ‘Source of Evil’ | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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SUPREME IRANIAN LEADER: Ali Khamenei -REUTERS


London – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei harshly condemned British Prime Minister Theresa May’s recent statements about Iran posing a threat to the region.

Iranian angry comments are still declared, despite the Gulf Summit ending over a week ago.

May told the summit of Gulf leaders that their countries must all, “work together to push back against Iran’s aggressive regional actions, whether in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Syria or in the Gulf itself.”

“So I want to assure you that I am clear-eyed about the threat that Iran poses to the Gulf and the wider Middle East,” she told the summit in Bahrain on December 7.

Speaking on the occasion of Prophet Mohammed’s (pbuh) and Imam Jaafar Sadeq’s birthdays, Khamenei condemned Britain as a “source of evil and misery” for the Middle East.

“Shamelessly, the British have recently called Iran a threat to the region, but everyone knows that it is the British who have always been the source of threats, corruption and misery,” added Khamenei.

On Friday, Iran summoned the top British diplomat in Tehran for the second time this month to complain about criticism of its actions in Syria.

Earlier, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called in the Russian and Iranian ambassadors in London to express his “profound concern” over their countries’ role in the “suffering” of the people of Aleppo.

Khamenei ignored international and Arab criticism for his country’s involvement in other states’ internal affairs. He pointed out that currently there are two wills in the region: one calls for unity while the other seeks division.

He accused the United States and Britain of provoking conflicts among the main Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam and said: “The old British policy of ‘divide and conquer’ is seriously on the agenda of Islam’s enemies.”

In its latest conference in Turkey the Islamic Summit condemned Iran’s interferences in the region and Tehran’s support for terrorism.

Iranian President Hasan Rouhani defended his country’s policies in the Middle East, claiming it is to support the suppressed people.

Rouhani insisted that the role of Iranian forces and its allies in Syria is to help the Syrian people saying that some countries are concerned about the fate of the terrorists and their safe exit from Aleppo, rather than being worried about the Syrian people.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi says announced that FM Mohammad-Javad Zarif is in efforts to finalize a plan for holding a trilateral meeting on December 27 by foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey and Russia on Syria.

Qasemi said that following the escalating situation in Syria in the past couple of days, Zarif has been making constant and intensive efforts and repeated phone calls with a number of his counterparts from other countries including Russia, and Turkey to find an effective mechanism to solve the Syrian issue and finalize the plan for a trilateral meeting to this end.

He described the crisis in Syria as “fabricated” and accused the Arab and Western states in the situation that resulted in all the humanitarian and financial catastrophe in the country.

Qasemi said Iran was the first and only country that offered multi-point plans for ceasefire, providing humanitarian aid and holding a Syrian-Syrian dialogue in the war-stricken country and is still insisting on these plans.

It is worth mentioning that Iran describes all factions and groups in Syrian opposition as terrorists.

Yet, Iranian forces continue to back Assad forces inside Syrian territories. Earlier, Iran denied the presence of its military leaders on Syrian soil, only to claim later they are “military advisors – officially requested from Damascus.”