Iran: US seeking Middle East dominance
Iran’s president today criticised the US for its plan to increase weapons sales to several Arab countries and step up military aid to Israel, saying Washington was trying to impose its dominance on the Middle East, the president’s office reported.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments were sparked by Washington’s announcement earlier this week that it would sell advanced weaponry to Persian Gulf nations worth at least €14.8bn and provide new 10-year military aid packages to Israel and Egypt.
“All US efforts are for the creation of differences among our brothers in the region to impose its ideas and hegemony,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying on his office’s official website.
“Americans feel their relations with regional (Mideast) countries are weakened, and under cover of this, the arms deal, they want to make relations warm.”
US defence secretary Robert Gates and secretary of state Condoleeza Rice visited its allies in the Middle East this week to discuss the proposed military package, seen as a counterweight to Iran’s rising influence in the region.
The Iranian president also criticised US support for Israel and Washington’s efforts to promote Arab-Israeli peace.
“The US plans to introduce Israel as a friend of the regional (Arab) countries,” said Ahmadinejad.
“Instead, they want to portray the Iranian nation, brother and best friend of Arab nations, as their enemy.”
The US accuses Iran of developing nuclear weapons and supporting Shiite militias in Iraq, charges Tehran denies.
The Sunni-led governments of the Middle East are also wary of Shiite Iran’s growing power, and Israel views the country as its principal enemy.
The US hopes to capitalise on this fear to rally support for its efforts to isolate Iran.
During his visit, Gates said the US “can’t wait years” for Iran to change its policies and argued that more countries needed to support UN sanctions to put additional pressure on Iran.
Ahmadinejad was defiant today, saying “Americans have faced a dead end” in their efforts to squeeze Iran.
“They will go nowhere with these primitive and weak movements,” he added.
The Iranian president called on Arab nations to spurn the U.S. weapons deal, arguing they should “spend the resources for progress and development of their countries.”
