IMAM KHAMENEI: USA TRYING TO SAVE ISRAEL

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution and Chief Commander of the Armed Forces Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei stated Saturday that the forthcoming Middle East conference "is an effort by the United States to save Israeli regime, rather than to bring peace to the occupied territories of Palestine".

"The United States took the initiative for this meeting to save the Zionist regime (Israel), which received a beating at the hands of Hezbollah," during the war last year with the Lebanese resistance movement, his eminence said.

Imam Khamenei made the remarks to tens of thousands of worshippers in Tehran who attended the Eid al-Fitr prayer ceremony, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

His eminence said "This so-called peace conference is another imposition on Palestine... the US initiative is an effort to save the Zionist regime of Israel from collapse rather than bringing peace to the occupied territories".

Imam Khamenei was referring to the US-proposed conference which is to be held next month in Annapolis, Maryland, with the aim of enabling a peace accord between the Israelis and Palestinians.

"How can other countries plan and attend a peace conference which is rejected by the Palestinian government and nation?" Sayyed Khamenei said.

He added that all so-called "Middle East peace plans" initiated by the West have so far failed and predicted the same fate for the upcoming conference.

"Palestine should solely be saved by Palestinians themselves and the Islamic world has the duty to support them," Imam Khamenei said.

Referring to Hamas, Khamenei said the "Palestinian people put in power a government that has made resistance its leading slogan and, despite all pressure, the Palestinian government and people continue to resist."

Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution also held the US responsible for the ongoing insecurity and "blind terrorism" in Iraq.

"The US does not want or is not capable of securing Iraq and therefore is mainly responsible for the catastrophe in Iraq and misery of the Iraqi people," He said.