U.S. incompetent to comment on human rights: Iran http://tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=239813

HAVANA - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson has said that U.S. officials are not competent to comment on human rights issues. “U.S. (officials) lacks competency to make comments on human rights. When they gain competence, we can talk about each and every one of the countries in the Middle East, the Persian Gulf region, and North Africa and study the developments in these countries together,” Ramin Mehmanparast said at a press conference in Havana, the capital of Cuba, late on Saturday. 

Mehmanparast called the United States the “greatest violator of human rights”, saying that Washington officials have not yet been able to provide an answer to the public opinion about human rights abuses being committed at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo penitentiaries. “They (U.S. officials) are using the human rights issue as a tool to exert pressure on independent countries,” he added.Iran suspects hidden agenda behind NATO-led campaign in Libya Commenting on the NATO-led military campaign in Libya, which was ordered by U.S. President Barack Obama, Mehmanparast said that Washington does not have the right to meddle in the affairs of other countries. 

Iran suspects the hidden agenda behind the air campaign in Libya, and it seems that the military intervention is not meant to protect civilians, but rather it is intended to control Libya’s oil, Mehmanparast opined. “U.S. officials are lying when they say they are seeking human rights.” Mehmanparast added, “Whenever their interests deem necessary, they support a government even if such a support involves repressing the people,

and when they see that a government is independent and does not want to depend on the United States, they use excuses such as human rights and pressure that government.” “Grave situation is taking place in certain other countries (Yemen and Bahrain) as well, and the U.S. had better care about those states,” he said.  Asked about the situation unfolding in Syria, Mehmanparast stated, “The Syrian officials have the necessary wisdom and ability to resolve the internal affairs of the country.”