Iran takes action against U.S. for funding opposition
4/12/2005 6:24:00 AM GMT
aljazeera.com
Iran vowed on Monday to take legal action against the United States government for funding the opposition groups in the country.
"The American government has been allocating funds for interference in Iran's domestic affairs for years," government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh told reporters.
"Our country and the regime are stable enough not to be disturbed by such measures. However, such acts are against international norms and law. The foreign ministry will take necessary legal action" against the U.S., he added.
Washington on the other hand, has defended its plans to provide three million dollars to promote “democracy and human rights” in Iran.
State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher confirmed on Monday that the U.S. government has appropriated three million dollars to finance "educational institutions, humanitarian groups, non-governmental organizations and individuals inside Iran to support the advancement of democracy and human rights," said a statement posted Friday on the Website of the State Department's Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.
The spokesman, moreover, repeated Washington’s continuous claims that supporting “democracy and human rights” around the world is something that the United States seeks everywhere.
Washington already spends nearly USD 15 million a year on radio and TV broadcasts into Iran in the Persian language. But it hasn’t given money directly to the Iranian government or U.S. organizations to work in Iran due to long-standing hostility and a U.S. prohibition on spending money there.
Earlier, Iran's UN Ambassador Mohamed Javad Zarif condemned Washington's plan to promote "democracy in his country" as "a clear violation of the Algiers accords", according to IRNA.
He said Iran "has the option" of complaining to a special court in the Netherlands.
Under the Algiers agreement, the United States pledged "not to intervene directly or indirectly, politically or militarily, in Iran's internal affairs." |
