Iran not land for velvet or colorful coup: Iranian FM

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has underscored that Iran is the anchor of stability and security in the region and not the land of velvet or colorful coup, slamming foreign intervention by some Western countries in Iran.

In a phone call with High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, the Iranian foreign minister said that, “the death of the late Mahsa Amini is a painful for all of us,” however, he pointed out that this issue is just regarded as a pretext for (intervention of) some western authorities.

The Iranian minister reassured that peaceful protests and demands are different from riots, pointing to the West-backed violent but limited riots that have been taking place in some Iranian cities.

Regarding the death of Amini, a young Iranian women who died in hospital days after arrest by the police, Abdollahian reiterated that a detailed and scientific forensic report has been provided by a significant number of highly specialized doctors and experts, and noted that legal actions are going on.

Furthermore, touching on some Western authorities’ dual standards, Abdollahian asked, “What has the West done regarding hundreds of cases of intentional murder of women and children in Canada and the US, especially by the police? One cannot say that the most violent shapes of confrontation in face of rioters in Europe can be considered as a good and acceptable act; however the same act is considered as repression in Iran even when it is within a legal framework.”

“Peaceful demands are different from riots, murders, arson, and terrorist operations,” he pointed out.

On the same topic, the Iranian FM also questioned “Who would believe that the death of a girl is so important to Westerners? If so, what did they do to the hundreds of thousands of martyrs and dead in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Lebanon? They wanted to start a sectarian war in Iran.”

At the International Conference on Islamic Unity, Abdollahian further elaborated, “In recent weeks, foreign parties have tried to intervene in our country by abusing an internal issue. This is while the president of our country called Mahsa Amini's father in the early hours after her death and consoled him and ordered an immediate investigation to clarify the issue.”

He stressed that some of the peaceful demands have been met and will be answered, noting “but we are witnessing the introduction of firearms into some of the demonstrations, and these weapons have been imported from abroad; we do not have such weapons in Iran.”

The Iranian FM said that for instance, in Zahedan, “there was no slogan or photo of Mahsa, and a known terrorist group tried to start a conflict between Shias and Sunnis, and they claimed responsibility for it. (The terrorist groups) did the same in part of Kurdistan, but the insight of Sunni scholars and people foiled their attempts.”

Amir-Abdollahian gave a concrete example of the enemy's movements to create division between Shias and Sunnis during the years of the American occupation of Iraq.

“During the years of occupation of Iraq after 2003 by the US, strange and unprecedented events were observed to create division between Shias and Sunnis in Iraq.”

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran also noted, "In Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon, etc., we have witnessed many cases of the enemy trying to create division among the Muslim nations,” referring to the interventionist nature of some Western countries.

Iran mourned the death of Mahsa Amini, a young Iranian who died at a hospital in Tehran three days after she collapsed in police custody. Iranians have held protests over the issue. But some extremist elements derailed the protests and incited violence against security forces. Western-backed media outlets have also encouraged the violence. Iran says it will not allow interference into its own internal affairs.

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