Iran supreme leader accuses U.S. of "creating Islamic State"June 13, 2017 - 17:58 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday, June 12 called the U.S. the “source” of instability in the Middle East and said it was responsible for the creation of the Islamic State terror group, The Times of Israel reports. “You and your agents are the source of instability in the Middle East…who created Islamic State? America … America’s claim of fighting against Islamic State is a lie,” Khamenei said during a meeting with government officials, in comments provided by Reuters from his official website. He also lashed out at U.S. President Donald Trump’s accusations during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia that Tehran was a sponsor of terrorism in the region, saying “It is really ridiculous for the U.S., standing next to the tribal and medieval Saudis, to talk about human rights in a place which has no notion of democracy, and to accuse Iran which is the emblem of democracy.” On Tehran’s enmity with Washington, the Iranian leader said “Some of the problems with the U.S. are essentially unresolvable as the U.S.’s problem with us has nothing to do with nuclear energy or human rights, their problem is with the principle of the Islamic Republic.” He added: “The U.S. must know that the Islamic Republic will not back down from positions such as battling oppression and defending Palestine and will spare no efforts towards defending the people’s rights.” Seventeen people were killed last week in a terror attack claimed by IS in Tehran. Iranian officials said Saturday they had killed the attack’s mastermind. Authorities have arrested as many as 41 people suspected of links to the terror group. Top stories Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". The earthquake caused a temporary blackout, damaged many buildings and closed a number of rural roads. Partner news | Russia warns Armenia against “falling into West’s trap” Zakharova maintained, however, that anything that will benefit the people of Armenia can only be welcomed. CSTO: Armenia has not participated in secretariat’s work recently Recently Armenia has not participated in the work of the secretariat of the CSTO, Imangali Tasmagambetov said. Meeting with U.S., EU not against third parties, says Armenia The meeting scheduled for April 5 is dedicated to strengthening of the Armenia-EU-US cooperation, Yerevan added. Ucom launches network modernization efforts in few regions of Armenia In particular, on March 28, the legacy Mobile Switching Subsystem will be replaced with a new one. |