Iran vows to back any nation that fights America, Israel

by REZA KAHLILI July 16, 2012

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a defiant speech in the face of Iran's conflict with the West over its nuclear program, vowed that "Iran will stand by all those who will confront America and Israel."

"The oppressors - and at the helm of it America and the Zionists - have been taken by surprise by the [Arab Spring] movement and are trying with all their power to control it," Khamenei said. "However, if the Islamic nations resist the conspiracies, then it is guaranteed that they will be victorious over the world oppressors."

The supreme leader, in an address Wednesday to the participants of the international conference on "Women and Islamic Awakening" in Tehran, made his comments even as it was revealed that the U.S. Navy is rushing underwater drones to the Persian Gulf to prevent Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz should hostilities break out. The submersibles seek out and destroy mines.

In his address, Khamenei first criticized the Western approach with women and emphasized that the West for over a century has tried to influence Islamic women and separate them from their great culture and heritage.

"The West, in the depth of their culture, treats women as a vehicle for the satisfaction of men ... and on that path calls it freedom, just like how they call it freedom and democracy when they send their troops to kill and steal the wealth of other nations," Khamenei said, according to the Keyhan newspaper.

Ironically, women in Iran are forced to adhere to Islamic hijab and often are taken into custody if they do not fully comply, with punishment ranging from lashing to imprisonment. Under Islamic law, Iranian women have no right to equal inheritance, child custody or divorce and are subjected to stoning for the charge of adultery. There have also been widespread reports of women being raped in Iranian prisons as a means of torture.

Calling Iran a hundred times stronger than it was at the beginning of the 1979 revolution in its confrontation with the West, Khamenei emphasized that the West has failed to derail Iran's support for the Palestinians.

"The Islamic republic of Iran, with the guidance of Allah, stands by the nation of Palestine and all awakened nations with their revolutions," Khamenei said. "And for all those who confront America and the Zionists, we will defend them. And on this path, we will not be considerate of any power."

In February, Khamenei had said that Iran will back "any nation, any groups" fighting Israel, but he had not mentioned America. With the negotiations over Iran's nuclear program reaching a dead end and the possibility of war increasing, the leader of the Islamic regime is preparing his loyal following and Islamic nations in the region for a possible confrontation.

As reported last week, the regime's state-owned media widely published Khamenei's statement on the need to prepare for war, stressing his ideological belief that the upcoming confrontation with the West will be a prelude to the reappearance of the last Islamic messiah and Islamic conquest of the world.

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