Iran Voices Concerns over Western Support of Arab Revolutions

By Nader Uskowi

Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in Tehran the West is attempting to “seize” the Arab revolutions.

“While the West backed the former rulers of some regional regimes, following the people’s victory, it has started an attempt to seize the revolutions and push them toward its own interests,” Salehi said. (Press TV, 13 December)

Salehi warned the region’s revolutionaries that the West is only “pretending to support” their movements only “to rub them of their revolution.”

Salehi’s comments came days after Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei warned the same revolutionaries that the U.S. is doing every efforts to eliminate “Islam and Islamists” in the region and warned them to beware of the ever-present (phony) smiles on American faces.

“Wherever Islam and Islamists (‘Islam-gara’) are present, the U.S. will make every effort to eliminate them; notwithstanding the smile they always wear on their face,” Khamenei said. (leader.ir, 11 December)

Using the label of “Islamic Awakening” instead of “Arab Spring,” Iran had hoped to gain great influence with the popular movements throughout the Arab World after the fall of pro-Western dictatorships. The comments by the supreme leader and the foreign minister show, however, that Iran is becoming increasingly apprehensive of normal relations established between the newly formed governments in Egypt, Tunisia and Libya and the West. Making matters worse for the Iranians is the inevitable victory of the Syrian opposition with the support of the West. The new Middle East is not the dream they had hoped for, it’s more becoming a nightmare!

Photo credit: Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi (IRNA)