Iran brushes off ex-US spy chief threats

Iran's Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/188895.html

Iran's Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi has dismissed the recent threats against Tehran by the former CIA director recently appointed as the new US defense chief.

Speaking to reporters in a post-cabinet session in the capital Tehran on Wednesday, Moslehi vehemently rejected Leon Panetta's latest claims that weapons supplied by Iran are behind a spate of attacks against American forces in Iraq as the US troops set out to depart from the strife-torn country, IRNA reported.

He also described the US defense chief's threats that the United States will take stronger action against Iran as “empty.”

Moslehi stated that Panetta's latest gesture is nothing new as US officials have been making threats against Iran since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

The US government resorts to intimidation anytime their efforts to sway public opinion fails, the Iranian intelligence minister pointed out.

Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi said on Tuesday that the US hegemony in the region has come to an end, and Panetta's remarks indicate Washington's “political defeat.”

He added that the United States tries to sow discord among the countries of the region, but such attempts are doomed to failure due to their wrong interpretation of the regional events.

Also on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast described the accusations as a “big lie.”

Mehmanparast said that Washington was making desperate efforts to find a way to extend its stay in the region “since the Americans are facing a widespread wave of opposition by the Iraqi people, government and [political] parties, and they must leave Iraq by the end of 2011 and Afghanistan by the end of 2014.”

On Monday, Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi also rejected Panetta's allegations.

“The international community and world public opinion are well aware that Iran as a responsible country has always behaved in a way [that has seen] its duties carried out well,” Salehi said.