Syria is part of US plan to take over the Middle East, says top Iranian official

Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Πηγή: The Times of Israel
By MICHAL SHMULOVICH and YIFA YAAKOV
August 18 2012

Syria is the battleground between an Islamic awakening across the Middle East and a US-dominated region, warned a top Iranian official Friday. The battle to topple Assad, the official said, is a US plan to take control of the Middle East, pointing to American involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq as examples.

“In Syria, we are faced with a final game between Iran and the US,” said Mohsen Rezaie, secretary of the Expediency Council that advises supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“If the US takes hold of Syria, the entire Islamic awakening will come under the US control — but if Syria remains unchanged, the Islamic Awakening [Iran's term for the Arab Spring] will advance more seriously and more speedily,” he added.

Rezaie described the “well-armed gangs” that attack Syrian police forces, referring to what he called Israeli, US and Arab plots to stir unrest in the country: “The US and its western and regional allies have long sought to topple [Syrian President] Bashar Assad.”

Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been providing arms to the Syrian opposition for several months.

The US national security establishment recently stated that Iran is helping and training Bashar Assad’s forces. US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that Iran is doing more for the Syrian regime in recent weeks, including providing assistance and training.

“We do not think that Iran ought to be playing that role at this moment in time,” said Panetta.

Meanwhile on Saturday, Commander of the Aero-Space Forces of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said Iran would react swiftly, decisively and destructively to counter aggression on its territory, in particular an Israeli airstrike against Iranian nuclear facilities, according to an IRNA report.

Hajizadeh told the news agency that the Islamic resistance would not bypass an opportunity to avenge the “massacres” allegedly perpetrated by Israel against Palestinian targets and Iranian nuclear scientists. An Israeli strike would be “welcome,” he said, because it would give Iran a reason to retaliate and “get rid of” the Jewish state “forever.”

The top-ranking military official was reportedly responding to recent “threatening” remarks made by Israel against the regime in Tehran.

Saudi Arabia Blocks Website Of Iran's Supreme Leader

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during his Friday Prayers sermon at Tehran University on February 3.

Πηγή: RFERL
By Reuters
Feb 5 2012

Iranian news websites report that Saudi Arabia has blocked the official website of Iran's Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which is available in a dozen languages, including Arabic.

"Shafaf" says Khamenei's website was blocked by Saudi officials ahead of his sermons for Friday Prayers on February 3, parts of which the Iranian leader delivered in Arabic.

The hard-line "Shafaf" website posted a screenshot of the page it claims Saudi users get when they try to access Khamenei's website.

The website claims Saudi officials decided to block Khamenei's official website because of what it described as Iran's influence on the "Islamic awakening." Iranian officials have been using the term as part of their efforts to put their own stamp on the Arab Spring uprisings, which they claim have been inspired by Iran's own 1979 revolution.

Political tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been escalating over Tehran's alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington and also over last March's intervention in Bahrain by Saudi forces to help the country's Sunni rulers crush pro-reform demonstrations by the Shi'ite majority.

In his Friday Prayers sermons, Khamenei dismissed accusations that Iran has supported the Shi'ites in Bahrain:

“The rulers of Bahrain claimed that Iran is involved in the events of Bahrain. This is a lie. No, we do not interfere. ... If we had interfered, the conditions would have been different in Bahrain."
Khamenei spoke at length about the revolutions and revolts in the region over the past year. He fell short, however, of mentioning the ongong antigovernment protests in Syria.

Ties between predominantly Shi'ite Iran and predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia have been marked in past years by rivalry and mistrust.

Iran last month warned Saudi Arabia not to compensate on global markets for any loss of Iranian oil exports if Tehran is hit by international sanctions, calling a pledge by Riyadh to boost output "not friendly."

Both Iran and Saudia Arabia are considered "enemies of the Internet" by the French media watchdog Reporters Without Borders over their efforts to suppress freedom of expression.