Iran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday he is against US intervention in neighbouring Iraq, where Islamic extremists and Sunni militants opposed to Tehran have seized a number of towns and cities, the official IRNA news agency reported.
“We strongly oppose the intervention of the US and others in the domestic affairs of Iraq,” Khamenei was quoted as saying, in his first reaction to the crisis.
“The main dispute in Iraq is between those who want Iraq to join the US camp and those who seek an independent Iraq,” said Khamenei, who has the final say over Government policies.
Earlier on Sunday, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said some countries “feed terrorists by their petrodollars,” in a veiled reference to the Arab Gulf states, and warned that such support would come back to haunt them. “Rest assured, tomorrow will be your turn. The barbarous terrorists will go after supporters of terrorism in the future,” said Rouhani.