Iranian President Mohammad Khatami warned on Thursday that the U.S.-led military assault on Iraq would increase violence and extremism in the world.
"With this war you are giving a green light to extremist movements and violence-seekers to answer back your violence with violence," the official IRNA news agency quoted Khatami as saying in a speech. "The result of this war is the death of innocent people and circulating and strengthening extremism and violence," he said.
Speaking in Iran's Kish Island in the northern Gulf, Khatami expressed sadness over the deaths on both sides of the war. "I feel sorry for the oppressed Iraqi people whose youth are being sacrificed for some people who are sitting in their safe palaces," he said.
"We also feel sorry for the killed young American and British soldiers who came from another part of the world to war because of the wrong policies and motives of those who seek power."
He said the US military invasion of Iraq would undoubtedly jeopardize the interests of those who have launched it because it is intended to secure their own interests.
"This war is a humiliation and disrespect to the UN and I hope the UN would come to its senses and take whatever action is needed to restore peace and coexistence," added the Iranian president.
He called for an international effort to stop the war which he said was driven by "Zionist lobbies" and warned that the consequences could be "worse than the Vietnam catastrophe."
"Nobody is defending the Iraqi regime. We support Iraq's integrity and national unity. Neither foreign powers nor a dictator have the right to rule the Iraqi nation," he said.
He referred to the protests that have been held both domestically and worldwide against the war, and noted that the time is most appropriate for reasserting the concepts of "dialogue among civilizations" and "coalition for peace" instead of bolstering the campaign for a coalition for war to solve conflicts and diffences on the global scene.
President Khatami arrived in this southern Iranian island on Thursday on a one-day tour which has seen him inaugurating a number of development projects, including the newly completed, huge Kish international airport terminal and desalination facilities. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
