Ali Akbar Velayati made the remarks during a speech at the two-day World Conference on Youth and Islamic Awakening, which opened at Tehran’s Milad Tower on Sunday.
More than 1200 young people from 73 countries are attending the conference.
In his speech, Velayati, who is currently an advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader, said, “The Islamic Awakening has not been limited to geographical boundaries. The Islamic Awakening is a reaction to centuries of political dependence and the plunder of Muslim nations’ resources.”
The Islamic Awakening is not an emerging phenomenon, he asserted, noting, “The Islamic Awakening movement, which began 150 years ago thanks to the efforts of Muslim scholars, activists, and figures, has entered a new phase with the recent developments in the Arab countries of the region, which have their roots in Muslim countries’ Islamic identity.”
“The current uprising in the Muslim world can be regarded as a pivotal phase, during which Muslim people have manifested their presence on the world political scene through gaining collective self-awareness,” he stated.
Velayati added that the tide of popular uprisings rolling across the Middle East and North Africa region is anti-hegemonistic, Islamic, and peaceful in nature.
He went on to say that the presence of youth on the scene is another important characteristic of these developments.
Velayati, who formerly served as Iran’s foreign minister, also said that the demonstrators are calling for the elimination of foreign interference, the revival of their Islamic identity, the resolution of their social and economic problems, and the restoration of the rights of nations, particularly the Palestinian nation.
He added, “Today, the Western world and the global arrogance (forces of imperialism) are making efforts to undermine Islamic movements” and derail them.
West seeking to turn countries against each other
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered the opening speech of the conference, in which he said that the West is seeking to sow seeds of discord among regional nations with the aim of saving the Zionist regime.
The West is seeking to create discord and conflict in the Middle East region, Ahmadinejad said, adding, “Their purpose is to save the Zionist regime. So everyone should be vigilant because they are seeking to sow religious and ethnic discord in order to be able to target one country through another country in the region.”
“We have told the leaders of certain regional countries, ‘They (the Westerners) want to target Syria through you, and then your turn will come,’” he stated.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Ahmadinejad said that the hegemonistic powers established the Zionist regime in order to establish dominance in the region and to take over the reins of popular and revolutionary uprisings.
“It is obvious that the main source of the problems facing the people in the region is the Zionist regime and the hegemons,” he said, adding, “The Westerners came to the region 100 years ago, and some made a mistake, and this is how this regime remained in the region and the hegemons were able to establish domination over the region.”
“If there is dictatorship in the region, the cause should be traced back to the Zionists, and we should see who helped the dictators come to power to oppose people of the region, with whom dictators held secret meetings, and who armed regional dictators,” the Iranian president said.
Ahmadinejad added that the existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to human dignity and all the world’s nations.
He also advised regional countries to remain vigilant about the domineering powers’ plots.
“Do the countries which claim to be advocates of democracy and justice in the world themselves enjoy democracy and justice to give them as gifts to us?”
Ahmadinejad also said that the Republican and Democratic parties in the United States are “puppets” that take orders from the Zionists.
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MNA