Letter: Iran not our foe

Contrary to Dr John Cameron's assessment of Iran, it is not our "deadly enemy" (Letters, 3 February).

It is a country which has decided not to be a puppet of Washington. That does not make it an enemy of Britain.

Iran had a democratic system and a popular leader in Mohamed Mossadeq. His crime was to nationalise Iran's oil, so he was overthrown in a coup by the UK/US governments and BP. This lead to the installation of the Shah.

Indeed, it was Britain, along with the US, which set up all the dictatorships in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates. They destroyed the secular leftist movements in all these countries, preferring to get into bed with Islamic fundamentalists. America's only concern in the Middle East is oil.

The Egyptians have every right to overthrow Mubarak. It is nobody's business but the Egyptian people's what sort of government they replace him with, least of all Britain and America.

Alan Hinnrichs

Gillespie Terrace

Dundee