US and Israel ‘fomenting division’

Published on 26/10/2012 03:23

Iran’s top cleric Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has accused America and Israel of fomenting divisions among Muslims to undermine “Islamic uprisings”.

“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,” he said in an annual message to Iranian pilgrims in Mecca. “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.”

Shia Iran describes the Arab Spring as an Islamic Awakening. Some of the uprisings brought Islamists to power, but in others, notably Syria and Bahrain, have pitted Sunnis against Shiites or Alawites, members of a Shiite offshoot of Islam.“The aggressive and interventionist arrogant powers are making every effort to divert the course of these significant Islamic movements,” Mr Khamenei said, according to Iranian state television.