Iran’s Supreme Leader Accuses U.S., Israel Of Dividing Muslims

IRAN’S SUPREME LEADER ACCUSES U.S., ISRAEL OF DIVIDING MUSLIMS

PanARMENIAN.Net
October 25, 2012 – 16:01 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net – Iran’s most powerful authority, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, on Thursday, Oct 25, accused the United States and Israel
of fomenting divisions among Muslims to undermine “Islamic uprisings”
across the Middle East, Reuters reported.

“By exploiting inattention … corrupt American, NATO and Zionist
agents are trying to divert the deluge-like movement of Muslim youth
and bring them into confrontation with one another in the name of
Islam,” he said in an annual message to Iranians who have gone to
Saudi Arabia for the haj pilgrimage.

“They are trying to turn the jihad against colonialism and Zionism
into blind terrorism in the streets … so that Muslims shed each
other’s blood.”

Officials in Shi’ite Muslim Iran often describe the “Arab Spring”
uprisings as an “Islamic Awakening”.

Some of those uprisings have brought Islamists to power, while others,
notably in Syria and Bahrain, have pitted Sunnis against Shi’ites or
Alawites, members of an offshoot of Shi’ite Islam. Iran has aligned
itself with its regional ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and
Lebanon’s Shi’ite Hezbollah movement in what it calls an “axis of
resistance” against Israel. At the same time it denies accusations
from Sunni-ruled Gulf monarchies that it is encouraging Shi’ite
uprisings in their countries.

“The aggressive and interventionist arrogant powers are making every
effort to divert the course of these significant Islamic movements,”
Khamenei said, according to Iranian state television, urging Muslims
to show solidarity.

He reiterated Iran’s opposition to outside intervention in Syria,
saying only Syrians could decide their own future, and said other
unspecified nations could also be engulfed by Syria’s turmoil.

On Wednesday, international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said both
the Syrian government and most opposition groups had agreed to the
principle of a ceasefire during the three-day Muslim Eid al-Adha
holiday, which starts on Friday.