US, West's meddlesome policies aimed at destabilizing Iran: foreign minister
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has condemned the US and its Western allies for their interventionist stances over the recent riots in the country, saying they seek to destabilize Iran.
Amir-Abdollahian made the remark while addressing the third Tehran Dialogue Forum, dubbed TDF 2022, in the Iranian capital on Monday, which was attended by scores of scholars from 36 countries at the Foreign Ministry’s Institute for Political and International Studies.
“Irresponsible and arbitrary positions and interventions of the United States and some [other] Western countries ... which were aimed at inciting riots in Iran through political means as well as cognitive, media and hybrid forms of warfare represented their maximum effort to destabilize the country,” Iran’s top diplomat said.
He added that Western countries’ intervention in Iran’s affairs comes despite the fact that they themselves are embroiled in all kinds of domestic protests and their police forces use the most violent methods in responding to those protests.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has warned meddlesome parties against any intervention in its domestic affairs and is carefully observing such illegitimate interventions and will give a strong response to them,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
Iran’s foreign minister added, “Those countries that host terrorists or encourage economic and media terrorism and foment violence must be aware that terrorism and insecurity are global phenomenons. You cannot live in a glass house and throw stones without being hurt.”
Emphasizing that the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran is based on people’s will, Amir-Abdollahian said the peaceful demands of people and internal developments of the country should not be exploited by others as a means of settling political scores.
Protests broke out in several Iranian cities after the September 16 death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who died at hospital three days after she collapsed at a police station in Tehran. An investigation attributed her death to her medical condition, dismissing allegations that she had been beaten by police forces.
Despite Iranian officials’ clarification on the circumstances surrounding her death, violent street protests ensued, culminating in attacks on security officers and acts of vandalism against public property and sanctities.
The Islamic Republic has strongly censured certain countries, topped by the United States and its Western allies, for provoking the riots through their spy agencies and propaganda apparatuses. London, in particular, hosts several anti-Iran networks, including Iran International, Manoto, and BBC Persian.
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