Solution is Islam, not Western secularism, Iran tells Arabs

Sep 17, 2011, 11:29 GMT

Tehran - Iran's supreme leader on Saturday called on Arab states to rely after their revolutions on Islam as the future political solution and not Western powers and their secular systems, state media reported.

'Never ever trust the United States, NATO or criminal regimes such as Britain, France and Italy, which have once mugged your countries,' Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in Tehran.

'What is hidden behind their smiles and promises now is only conspiracy and betrayal,' he added in his opening speech to the 'Islamic Awakening' conference which is reportedly attended by more than 500 scholars from 80 countries.

Iran has termed the anti-government protests during the Arab Spring as 'echoes of the Islamic reawakening' inspired by the 1979 revolution in Iran.

'The solution is sticking to the generous teachings of Islam rather than allowing the enemies to dictate the principles of your new political system,' the ayatollah said.

Iran is worried that the Arab states such as Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, would move towards the West rather than an Islamic system in their post-revolution era.

Also the Islamic system propagated by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan during this recent trips to the three Arabs states, is not favoured by Tehran.

Unlike in Turkey, the political system in Iran is not secular but directly linked to the clergy with Khamenei as leader who, according to the Iranian constitution, has the final say on all state affairs.

'One of the most important demands by the (Arab) protesters was an Islamic democracy based on Islamic principles . but had nothing to do with Western liberalism and secular democracy which is some cases is even anti-religious,' Khamenei said.

He added that Arab protesters also demanded fighting US hegemony in the Middle East and an end to Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands.

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