Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jan. 12 A senior Iranian cleric accused the United States and Britain on Friday of actively sponsoring terrorist groups in Iraq. Iran Focus
Tehran, Iran, Jan. 12 A senior Iranian cleric accused the United States and Britain on Friday of actively sponsoring terrorist groups in Iraq.
“Today, the U.S. has been defeated in its policies”, the Chairman of the powerful Guardians Council Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati told worshippers during his Friday prayers sermon in Tehran. His comments were aired on state television.
“The U.S. and Britain are supporting terrorists in Iraq”, he said.
Jannati said that U.S. President George W. Bush’s new strategy for Iraq was to foment civil war in the country, adding that Washington and London sought to sow discord between Iraq’s Sunni and Shiite Muslim population.
He added that the Islamic Republic was supporting financially Muslims from as far as Bosnia to Palestine and Lebanon to Iraq.
He urged “certain leaders of Islamic countries” not to fall in the “trap” of the U.S. and Britain in creating sectarian divisions.
Jannati, who is a close ally to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, blasted a raid by U.S. forces on Thursday on a compound which Iran described as its consulate in the Iraqi city of Irbil.
He called the raid, in which at least five Iranians were arrested, “stupid”.
