Hillary_Clinton-s.jpg
Hillary_Clinton-s.jpgIsrael News Photo: (file)

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday accused Iran of physically aiding Syrian forces using brutal violence to put down the country's protest movement. Hours earlier, Iran warned the United States, “Americans are not allowed to launch a military intervention in any country of the region, including Syria.”

Secretary Clinton issued a brief statement two years after the Iranian brutal crackdown on a massive protest movement in Tehran following the reelection of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which the opposition charged was rigged.

She did not detail what assistance Ahmadinejad has given Syrian President Bashar Assad, but several reports have surfaced of security officials in Syria speaking Farsi, the language spoken in Iran.

Al-Arabiya TV showed a video of two men admitting to Syrian activists that they were Iranian Shi’ite Muslims who worked for “military security.”

The London Guardian’s Martin Chulov reported, “If Iran is involved on the ground it does mark a significant step upwards. It would say that there is some significant pressure being felt in Damascus and indeed by Iran if they are prepared to send people to front lines like this to assist the Syrians in a crackdown.

t

As Syrian helicopters and tanks continue their assault on another northern village, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast told government-controlled media, “Americans are not allowed to launch a military intervention in any country of the region, including Syria. We strongly condemn any interference by the other countries in the affairs of the regional states.”

The official Syrian news agency SANA published the Iranian Foreign Minister’s remarks and told Syrians that he “indicated that some countries support the terrorist groups in Syria and supply them with weapons to do acts of sabotage.”

SANA has reported on a daily basis that the protest movement actually is made up of “armed gangs” and “terrorists.”