Iran criticizes U.S. blocking of anti-Israeli attack statement

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi on Saturday blamed the United States for " preventing" the approval of a statement by the UN Security Council in condemnation of Israel's missile attacks on Palestinians, the official IRNA news agency reported.

"The U.S. blocking of the statement which condemned Israel's raid on Gaza is a provocation to the other 14 UN Security Council member states," said Asefi, adding that the measure was "another example of blind support for state terrorism."

The U.S. is a permanent member of the Security Council with veto power.

The opposition shows Washington's offensive attitude toward the international community and ignorance of the world public opinion, he added.

Asefi also stressed that "the U.S. administration's abuse of international bodies" to the extent of playing the role of Israel's consultant in the Security Council had "humiliated the American people", encouraging more crimes in the occupied Palestinian lands.

"The Palestinian people and other independent nations have always censured the U.S. administration's subservience to the usurper Zionist regime in different periods of time," the spokesman was quoted as saying.

Now the U.S. is described as a "untrustworthy and stubborn government that supports terrorism", he added.

Beside Asefi's comments, Iran's hardline leaders launched a string of vitriolic attacks against the United States and Israel on Friday in the opening ceremony of the third international conference in support for the rights of the Palestinian people, which is being held in Tehran.

Source: Xinhua