The West Must Curb Tehran’s Mideast Ambitions, Says Israeli Ambassador to Italy as Iranian President
The West must “impose limits and bars” on Iran’s regional ambitions to help stabilize the Middle East, Israel’s ambassador to Italy said, as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrived for what was being billed as a major business trip in Europe, Italian news service AnsaMed reported on Monday.
Naor Gilon, Israel’s top diplomat in Italy, said Iran’s hand was involved in several major regional political crises, including in Bahrain, Yemen and Lebanon, where Iranian-backed Hezbollah has been armed by Tehran with some 100,000 rockets and missiles.
“Israel does not have a border with Iran, but Iranians are on its borders,” said Gilon, referring to Hezbollah in southern Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, both of which received funding and weapons technology from Iran.
“I hope it doesn’t become a victor’s parade by the king of the world to whom everything is allowed,” said Gilon, referring to Rouhani’s visit, the first by an Iranian president in 16 years. He reminded the paper of Iran’s ongoing human rights abuses, including the hanging of “2,000 people … some of them for political reasons.”
“The rights of women, of gays, of minorities are not respected. Out of 3,000 reformist candidates for the new Parliament of Tehran, only 30, or 1.0%, obtained permission to stand in the election,” he said. Rouhani himself criticized the country’s powerful clerical body, the Guardian Council, for ruling out all but 1% of the reformist candidates in Iran.
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