Tehran, March 01: Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says Western policies have led to atrocities by dictatorial regimes and the consequent suffering of people in the Middle East.
Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, Salehi criticized the West for its support of authoritarian rulers around the region, and urged Western countries to heed the Middle East nations’ calls for independence and basic rights, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
Salehi made a reference to the pro-democracy revolutions in North Africa and uprisings across the Middle East and said, “People in the region are tired of corruption and foreign domination, and actively pursue independence and liberation from oppression and despotic rule.”
The minister made the comments in the Swiss city of Geneva, where he attended the 16th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council and is also scheduled to deliver a speech at a plenary meeting of the Conference on Disarmament.
He slammed some regional regimes for using force against their own citizens, and called on Western powers to “refrain from obstructing these nations’ aspirations for determining their own future.”
“History bears witness to the fact that the colonialist policies of some Western powers are the main cause of bloodshed and people’s sufferings in the region,” he underscored.
Salehi criticized the West for its hypocritical stance on human rights issues and support for totalitarian regimes. He further noted how anti-Iran “terrorist groups have, unfortunately, found safe havens in Western countries” after Iran’s Islamic Revolution of 1979, and “never faced justice, continuing their crimes.”
The Iranian minister, who heads a high-ranking delegation to the meeting, will also hold negotiations with other heads of delegations attending the four-week conference.
The UN Disarmament Conference, the world’s sole multinational negotiating forum for disarmament, has been meeting in Geneva since 1979. It comprises of 65 member states, including Brazil, Britain, Iran, Turkey and the United States.
Cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament, prevention of nuclear war, comprehensive program of disarmament and transparency in armaments are part of the agenda pursued by the conference .
——–Agencies