U.S. fears independent Iran, Venezuela: Raeisi
Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi said Washington doesn’t want countries like Iran and Venezuela to achieve independence in production, exports, and trade, and everything else including its strategic, double-standard use of human rights is “a front”.
In an interview with the Venezuelan TeleSUR television network during his five-day Latin America tour earlier this month, Raeisi noted that Washington is furious at Caracas and Tehran because the former doesn’t relinquish its oil freely, and the latter insists on achieving independence and opposing tyranny.
“Former U.S. president Donald Trump exposed Washington’s greed a while back when he admitted that Washington wanted to ‘take over’ Venezuela and its oil, further criticizing the incumbent U.S. government for giving money to Caracas in exchange for its oil,” he highlighted.
“That is Washington’s attitude. That is Washington without filter, showing itself for what it truly is and admitting to its pillaging goals in foreign affairs.”
To this end, Raeisi pointed out, Washington uses sanctions as a weapon to attack nations that either want to be independent or stand up to its pillaging exploits.
“It looks as if sanctions are imposed on governments, but their weight, in fact, falls on the people,” the Iranian president reaffirmed, concluding that one way to neutralize sanctions is for independent and sanctioned countries to cement their ties.
Noting that Venezuela was in a corner, Raeisi asserted, “We did whatever we could at the time to help, and we are still standing beside the people and government of Venezuela”.
He maintained that after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iranians embraced the same ideals of independence, freedom, and justice that the Latin American nations embraced when they fought for and gained their independence.
Raeisi said that Washington’s rule of thumb that every country that doesn’t oblige to its demands is to be called the embodiment of evil, adding: “But if we look around the world today, we can clearly see who killed thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan, and who was responsible for the disability of 35,000 Afghan kids.”
“I ask them: Don’t you believe in democracy? Then why don’t you respect the wishes of the people of Venezuela and other Latin American countries and the results of their elections? Why don’t you let all the Palestinians — whether they be Muslims, Jews, or Christians — freely vote for their government and end this 70-year-old oppression?”
Stressing that the Islamic Republic of Iran has always insisted that every nation including Afghanistan, Yemen, Cuba, and Venezuela must be allowed to decide its own fate, the president lambasted the United States for allowing themselves to interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries and violating fundamental principles of democracy and human rights.
Stating that the dominance of tyrannical powers is on the decline, President Raeisi asserted his belief that the world order will transform in favor of independent countries.