Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 20
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has criticized the Arab League for a recent declaration that called Hezbollah a terrorist organization.
"Hezbollah and its youth are shining as the Sun," Khamenei's official website quoted him as saying in Tehran at a gathering of students from across Iran, Apr. 20.
Aside from the Arab League, the United States, France, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, and Israel also list Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
Questioning the Arab League's decision, the Iranian leader claimed that "corrupt" and "dependent" governments were behind the decision to issue that declaration.
Earlier in March, a week after a similar move by the Arab Gulf states, the Arab League said it listed Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Khamenei touched upon the domestic issues and said "a covert soft war is underway between Iran and the US."
"The US would like the Iranian youth to lack courage, motivation, hope, activeness, physical and mental capability," he claimed.
Khamenei also claimed that the US would like to convince the Iranian youth to be pessimistic about Iran's high-ranking officials and be optimistic about the "enemy".