Tehran, March 06: Top Iranian commander Hassan Firouzabadi says the US seeks to take control of Libya’s oil resources through military intervention in the country.
“The fact is the US wants to intervene in order to take over Libya’s oil wells, just like what they did in Iraq with Iraqi oil [resources],” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces Major General Firouzabadi said on Saturday.
A brutal crackdown by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s regime on opposition protests that began nearly two weeks ago has left an estimated 2,000 people dead so far.
The US has called for the international community’s support for military intervention in Libya.
Firouzabadi referred to Washington’s historical and strategic mistakes in attacking Iraq and Afghanistan, and said the repetition of such mistake would lead to the strengthening and solidarity of Islamic uprisings.
“They should refrain from interfering in the [internal] affairs of Muslim countries and leave it to [their] people,” Fars News Agency quoted the Iranian commander as saying.
“The Muslim people of Libya have risen and proved that they can liberate their country, he added. “Libyans are in control of their own oil [resources] and want to use their power, goals and capability to [achieve] independence.”
——–Agencies