Cairo, February 4:A top Iranian military official has warned Egyptians that the United States is seeking to use the anti-government protests to sow discord in the North African country.
“By introducing several people as [protest] leaders, the US is seeking to pave the way for creating rifts amidst the Egyptian nation and to use the outcome to its own advantage,” top military adviser to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Brigadier General Yahya Rahim-Safavi, said on Thursday, IRNA reported.
Rahim-Safavi said the US administration has paid an annual of USD 3 billion in aid to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
The commander blamed the US for funding a regime that held on to power by rigging the country’s 2005 presidential elections.
He said the poll — widely boycotted by opposition parties — was attended by no more than 13 percent of eligible voters, which would strip the results of legitimacy.
Egyptians, fed up with 30 years of authoritarian rule under President Hosni Mubarak and two decades under an Emergency Law, have staged massive street protests in the past 10 days.
Hundreds of protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square have vowed to continue the outcry until Mubarak surrenders to popular demands and steps down.
More than 300 people have been killed in clashes between protesters and pro-Mubarak security forces and vigilantes.
–Agencies