This Article is From Sep 29, 2015

Hassan Rouhani Says Iran Ready to Help Bring Democracy to Syria, Yemen

Hassan Rouhani Says Iran Ready to Help Bring Democracy to Syria, Yemen

File photo of Iran President Hassan Rouhani.(Agence France-Presse Photo)

United Nations: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said today Tehran was ready to help bring democracy to war-torn Syria and Yemen and blamed the spread of terrorism in the Middle East on the United States.

Iran has given extensive military backing to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and has supported Houthi rebels fighting for power in Yemen.

"We are prepared to assist in the eradication of terrorism and in paving the way for democracy," Rouhani said in a speech to the annual United Nations General Assembly in New York.

"As we aided the establishment of democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, we are prepared to help bring about democracy in Syria and also Yemen," he said.

Rouhani blamed the crisis in the Middle East on the United States' occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq as well as what he said was Washington's support for Israel against Palestine.

"If we did not have the US military invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the US's unwarranted support for the inhumane actions of the Zionist regime against the oppressed nation of Palestine, today the terrorists would not have an excuse for the justification of their crimes," he said.

He also said a historic nuclear deal reached between Iran and six global powers in exchange for easing economic sanctions on his country was "a brilliant example of "victory over war that has managed to disburse the clouds of hostility and perhaps even the specter of another war and extensive tensions from the Middle East."
© Thomson Reuters 2015
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