Iran leader blames US-Israeli conspiracy for pope remarks [View All]

[ECH1969]

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday blamed a US-Israeli conspiracy aiming to sow conflict between religions for remarks by the Pope Benedict XVI on Islam and violence that unleashed a wave of anger across the Muslim world.

Khamenei said the comments were part of the same conspiracy that started with the US invasion of Iraq and has been hatched by great powers intent on creating crises between religions to "pursue their evil objectives".

"Leaders of the arrogant imperialists have already defined the links of the chain in this US-Zionist project by attacking Iraq," Khamenei said in comments broadcast on state television.

"The issue of the insulting cartoons and remarks of some politicians about Islam are different links in the conspiracy of the Crusaders, and the pope's remarks are the latest links in this," he added. The pope's comments, which unleashed a wave of anger in the Islamic world, came after caricatures published in a Danish newspaper last year deemed insulting to the Prophet Mohammed set off deadly protests.

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=142681