Tehran, February 16: Iran has hit back against U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s warning that the Islamic republic is becoming a military dictatorship.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, instead has tried to turn the tables, referring to the Americans as the architects of the Vietnam War and calling them military dictators.
Ms. Clinton’s comments reflected an increasingly pessimistic outlook for persuading Iran to negotiate limits on its nuclear programme, which the U.S. believes is aimed at producing a bomb.
Mr. Mottaki insists Iran’s nuclear programme is peaceful and “absolutely legitimate” and says Ms. Clinton’s remarks were based on “inappropriate interpretations.”
He spoke on Tuesday at a joint news conference with his Turkish counterpart.
—–Agencies