Khatami Slams US Military Presence in the Gulf Region

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Sunday, April 06, 2003

Khatami Slams US Military Presence in the Gulf Region

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Iranian President Mohammad Khatami on Saturday slammed US military presence in the Persian Gulf region in the name of bringing democracy, saying that the United States has proved its hypocrisy in international diplomacy.

During a meeting with visiting Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio, Khatami said "democracy is not a gift to come from overseas. It should be fostered within the core of the nations."

"Unfortunately, presence and interference of foreign forces in the region in the past several centuries has driven the process of democracy to a dead-end," he was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

Khatami reaffirmed Iran's opposition to the war in Iraq and the killing of innocent Iraqi civilians, adding that the consequences of the ongoing war are against international security and the interests of the western nations.

"The Iraqi people don't consider the coalition forces as their savior. The current war in Iraq will help flourish extremism and violence in the world. Terror and violence are to the detriment of all nations and will bring bleak and gloomy prospects for the entire world," Khatami said.

Referring to the US plan to set up a military government in Iraq, he said "Iraqi government should represent the Iraqi people. Only the Iraqi people have the right to decide their own fate."

The international community should remedy the wounds inflicted on the United Nations by the unauthorized war in Iraq, and the United Nations should undertake active role by ending bloodshed and further losses to the prestige of the United Nations and international peace, Khatami added.

Palacio, for her part, said Madrid supports Iraq's territorial integrity and free elections to democratically form the next Iraqi government.

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