Tehran, February 12: Iran said Egypt’s people achieved a “great victory” with president Hosni Mubarak’s decision to step down after more than two weeks of mass protests yesterday, on the same date as its Islamic revolution.
“The conquest by the will of the great Egyptian nation over the resistance and persistence of officials who were dependent on the world powers is a great victory,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.
“We hope that by continuing on this path, all the historical demands of Egyptians will materialise,” Mehmanparast told Iran’s Arabic-language Al Alam television.
Iran itself yesterday marked the 32nd anniversary of the Islamic revolution which toppled the US-backed shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.
Tehran, which has no diplomatic ties with Cairo, has repeatedly expressed support for the uprising in Egypt, with Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for the establishment of an Islamic regime.
Earlier yesterday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said a new Middle East was being carved out that would be free of the US and Israel.
“We will soon see a new Middle East materialising without America and the Zionist regime and there will be no room for world arrogance (the West) in it,” Ahmadinejad told cheering crowds.
Before the crowds gathered in a Tehran square chanting anti-Mubarak and anti-US slogans to mark the Islamic revolution’s anniversary, he said the Egyptians still needed to stay vigilant.
“They (the US) … say ‘we are friends of the people of North Africa and Arab countries’, but be watchful and united. You will be victorious … but your path of resistance is a lengthy one,” he said.
“The Iranian nation is your friend and it is your right to freely choose your path. The Iranian nation backs this right of yours.”
The US, meanwhile, accused Iran of “hypocrisy” over Egypt and its own suppression of protests.
“The recent arrests and effort to block international media outlets underscore the hypocrisy of the Iranian leadership,” National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said.
“For all of its empty talk about Egypt, the government of Iran should allow the Iranian people the same universal right to peacefully assemble, demonstrate and communicate in Tehran that the people are exercising in Cairo.”
–Courtesy: Gulf Daily News