Tehran, February 28: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says dictators in the Middle East and North Africa are using US-made weapons to target civilians in their countries.
“Today, the region’s dictators are using weapons they purchased from the US and its allies to kill their people,” he was quoted as saying by media on Monday.
“Today, those who founded dictatorship in the world, instead of answering claim to be advocates of democracy and the people,” Ahmadinejad added.
The Iranian president made the remarks as Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled the country for nearly 42 years, ordered his forces to shoot pro-democracy protesters who have taken to the streets to demand their basic rights.
The Libyan people have been bombarded several times in different cities, including Zawiyah, a city located some 50 kilometers west of the capital, Tripoli.
Two thousand people have been reportedly killed in the violence so far despite the regime’s denial that any force had been used against the people.
On Saturday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Tehran supports the Libyan people’s movement and expressed the Islamic Republic’s readiness to send humanitarian aid to the country.
“The dictators, who are killing their people now, are incapable of even producing a simple device and are using these very weapons purchased from the US and its allies to kill their people,” the Iranian president said.
“The US and its allies should be held accountable for imposing dictatorships on the people of these countries for the past 30 to 40 years,” Ahmadinejad argued.
The massive protests in the region engulfed after people in Tunisia toppled President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Egyptians ousted President Hosni Mubarak after three decades on February 11.
Similar pro-democracy movements, fueled by poverty and unemployment, are also raging in Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen.
——–Agencies