Rouhani: US no friend of Muslims, Mideast
President Hassan Rouhani has continued his new anti-US position at the latest Islamic Unity Conference.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke at Iran’s 33rd International Islamic Unity Conference on Nov. 14, delivering one of his strongest anti-US and anti-Israeli speeches ever.
“No one doubts that [nothing good has come] from the arrogant powers and the United States,” Rouhani said at the annual conference, which brings Shiite and Sunni leaders and scholars together. He added, “In recent centuries, the source of every war, killing, bloodshed and conflict in the region has been the United States and the Zionist regime. From the killing of the people of Afghanistan to the killing of people in Iraq and Yemen to creating conflicts in various Muslim countries, they were all the plots of the United States in the region."
Rouhani — who ran for president in 2013 primarily on the promise that through negotiations with Western countries such as the United States, Iran’s economic and political gridlock could be resolved — added, “Those who say the United States can be a solution — give us an example of which country the United States has helped.”
Rouhani said the “most important issue of the Islamic world is to eliminate the idea amongst the youth that the United States has been a friend of nations in the region.” Citing the example of US officials who have stated they will keep troops in Syria to safeguard its oil, Rouhani said, “Up until now, we have not heard more directly that the goal of the United States in the region is to plunder Muslim resources.”
