Iran
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with U.N. Secretary
General
Ban Ki-moon last year. Iran's state-run press
reports Ahmadinejad
phoning
the U.N. chief to ask him to stop Western intervention.
Kayhan, Islamic Republic of Iran
President Ahmadinejad
Warns Arab Monarchies of 'American Trap'
Has
Washington pressured Gulf Arab countries to denounce Iranian interference?
According to this news item from state-run Kahyan, Iranian President Ahmadinejad
disputes whether the Gulf Arab states are genuinely suspicious of his
government, and insists that the U.S. seeks to hijack revolts across the Arab world
for its own purposes.
TEHRAN: On Monday, President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad demanded that Saudi forces leave Bahrain and said that the
United States and its allies have been pressuring Arab states in the Persian
Gulf to accuse Tehran of interfering in the region.
On Sunday, the Cooperation
Council for the Arab States of the Gulf [PGCC]
issued a statement saying it was worried about "Iranian meddling." [see
video below] Ahmadinejad said that since the statement was issued under
pressure from America and its allies, it "has no legitimate value."
According to President Ahmadinejad,
Saudi-led forces brought into Bahrain amid anti-regime protests should leave.
"It is hideous that
troops have been brought in," Ahmadinejad said. "Take them out. The
people have demands, so listen to them." He said that the Arab monarchies of
the Persian Gulf "must not fall into the American trap," and that
they should boost their ties with Tehran instead.
"We have extended the
hand of friendship ... do not fall into the American trap. Everyone should be
alert," Ahmadinejad said. Pointing a finger at the occupying regime of
Israel, he said: "By interfering in the region, their intention is to save
the Zionist regime."
The president said that when
Barack Obama followed the policies of his predecessors, the true face of the
U.S. administration was unmasked.
“Double standards remove the
mask of deception from the face of the bullying powers,” he said. He pointed to
the influence of the Zionist lobby on U.S. politics and said that American
government's best option is to establish relations based on justice with Iran.
President Ahmadinejad
expressed concern that U.S. intervention would steer the region's popular
uprisings in favor of the occupying regime of Israel, and he urged countries in
the region to carry out reform and heed the demands of their people.
The president said that the
Zionist regime, a base for U.S. domination of the Middle East, has had a negative
reaction to the popular wave of unrest because it finds its status in jeopardy.
Ahmadinejad also asserted
that Iran is not "interfering" in Syria.
"We are very good
friends with the Syrian government, which is at the forefront of the
resistance, as are the people of Syria. … The Zionists can't imagine leaving the
Syrian people and government at peace ... the government and people of Syria
can resolve their own issues through dialogue," he said.
He also denied allegations
that Tehran was operating a spy ring in Kuwait.
"It's clear that (this
allegation) has no justification. What is this spying in Kuwait all about? What
does Kuwait have that we would want to spy on?" Ahmadinejad asked. "If
this is about its people, its people are our friends and we are the friend of
its people. If it is (about) its government, we are friends with its government
and it is our friend," he said.
On Thursday, Kuwait announced
that it will expel a number of Iranian diplomats for alleged links to a spy
ring working for Tehran. Reports charge that the ring has been operating since
the [2003] U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Earlier, in a telephone
conversation, Ahmadinejad asked the U.N. secretary General Ban Ki-moon to stop U.S.
and European "intervention" in the region.
"The intervention of America
and some European countries in the region raises concerns and complicates
circumstances," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.
"The time has come for
the secretary general of the United Nations to play a historic and decisive
role in resolving existing disputes based on dialogue and understanding, so that
the catastrophes that occurred in Afghanistan and Iraq don't happen
again," Ahmadinejad said.
"The double standards of
Western countries in Bahrain and Libya, and their silence in regard to the
atrocities against committed against innocent Palestinians by the Zionist
regime shows their contradictory performance in the world."
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
The president's call came a
day after Tehran blamed rising tension between the Islamic Republic and Arab
states in the Persian Gulf on a "Western and Zionist conspiracy."
"Sowing discord between
Islamic countries, particularly between Iran and the countries of the region is
a Western and Zionist conspiracy," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin
Mehmanparast said on Sunday.
On Monday, Ahmadinejad said
oil prices would reach $150 per barrel, and that current crude oil prices were
not justified.
Brent crude traded above $119
a barrel on Monday, just off a two-and-a-half year high reached in February.
This was spurred by political instability in the Middle East and North Africa.
Iran is OPEC's second largest
crude oil producer after Saudi Arabia.
A disruption of Libyan
exports due to violent unrest in the fellow OPEC country also provided an
opportunity for Iran to sell some of the crude that had built up in floating
storage.
A popular uprising in Libya
has shut down almost all of the country's 1.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of
oil production, prompting Saudi Arabia to boost crude output to try and
compensate for the loss and rein in prices.
