US policies root causes of terrorism

TEHRAN – FM Spokesman Ghasemi on Tue. dismissed Mattis’s baseless remarks on Iran, saying the US policies and its support for terrorist-nurturing regimes are the root causes of terrorism and extremism.

“Terrorism and extremism in the region and the world are rooted in the US unwise policies in supporting terrorist-nurturing regional countries and the state terrorism of the Zionist regime,” Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said Tuesday in reaction to the recent meddlesome and unfounded remarks by US defense secretary Jim Mattis on “regime change” in the country, according to Mehr News Agancy.

 Ghasemi dismissed as unfounded the “fictitious” US plot to embroil Iran in the assassination case of Saudi ambassador in downtown Washington, saying the plot for the assassination had been drawn up by the US itself with the support of one of the regional countries.

“This is not the first time that the US Defense Secretary is accusing Iran and its democratic Establishment of sponsoring terrorism. This comes as the US and its Defense Secretary are the very epitome of terrorism and violation of human rights,” he added.

“The people of the region and the world have not yet forgotten the US role in the massacre of innocent Iraqis in Fallujah and Haditha,” he stressed.

Ghasemi further referred to Washington’s worn-out policy of sowing the seeds of discord between the Iranian nation and government over the past decades and stressed that such American ploys are futile.

“The US Secretary of Defense assumes that the Islamic Republic of Iran is an unpopular establishment with the Iranian nation despite the voter turnout of over 70 percent in the recent presidential election,” Ghasemi said.

He went on to add that meanwhile the US supports regimes in the Middle East and the world which have never heard anything about democracy and elections.

M.Wassouf