Iran cleric warns Egyptians of US plots
A senior Iranian cleric has praised the Egyptian Revolution against Western-backed President Hosni Mubarak, but warned against replacing a puppet leader with another.
“Egyptian people felt humiliated for being a subsidiary to Israel and could not take it any longer and thus the youths took action,” Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said during a Friday sermon in Tehran, IRNA reported.
Ayatollah Jannati criticized the “imprudent” US policy to adopt an ambiguous stance in support for Mubarak despite their better knowledge that the countdown had started for the dictator’s rule.
“Our concern is that lest only pawns might be replaced,” he said, warning of an “enemy” plot to sweep new US puppet into power to parry the pro-democracy uprising in Egypt.
“The Egyptians should listen to our message. Many such acts were carried out in our country but resistance and reliance on God stopped them all.”
The Iranian cleric expressed dismay at the Egyptian clergy’s failure to “move ahead of people and side by side with them.”
Recalling the clerical leadership in the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Jannati called on the Egyptian clerics to play a more active role and have share in the formation of the government in-the-making.
“Act like in Iran, do not sit on your hands,” he urged.
Tehran’s interim Friday Prayers leader also criticized the Western-backed Arab leaders especially in Bahrain and Yemen.
In January, a popular uprising in Tunisia sent President Zine El Abedine Ben Ali fleeing to Saudi Arabia after 23 years of authoritarian rule.
Egyptians followed suit to oust President Hosni Mubarak -- widely viewed as Israel’s closest regional ally.
The revolutions have inspired popular protests in Bahrain, Jordan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and other Arab and North African nations.
Source: presstv.ir
