Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi hailed the growing tides of Islamic awakening in the region, and described the recent takeover of the Israeli embassy in Cairo and the escape of Israeli diplomatic corps from Amman as a second wave of Muslim struggles against Israel, Fars news agency reported.
"Given the takeover of the Zionist regime's espionage den and the escape of the ambassador of this usurper regime from Egypt, we can say that the second wave of Islamic awakening against the Zionist regime has started and we hope that his movement will continue with more power," Vahidi told reporters on the sidelines of the First International Conference on Islamic Awakening in Tehran on Saturday.
A mob stormed the Israeli embassy in Cairo last Friday, forcing six security guards to barricade themselves behind a steel door as the mission was ransacked. The guards were eventually rescued by Egyptian commandos and brought back to Israel.
Less than a week later, Jordanians staged a similar demonstration and intimidated the Israeli diplomats in their country forcing the Israeli diplomatic corps in Amman to be evacuated even before the start of the rally in anticipation of the raid.
Vahidi further described the Islamic awakening as a rather unique and unprecedented event in the Muslim history, and said that "the regional developments entered a deeper stage after the recent events in a number of Arab countries, including Egypt and Jordan".
Vahidi forecasted a rapid growth for the Arab Spring, and said, "Despite the wide efforts made by the enemies of Islam to control the regional revolutions, this awakening and anti-Zionist stream will continue in the other Islamic countries."
Tehran is hosting a two-day international conference on Islamic Awakening these days. The high-profile meeting kicked off work here in Tehran on Saturday in the presence of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution.
Senior Iranian officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Sadeq Amoli Larijani, attended the opening session of the conference, which started with the inaugural speech of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Grand Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.
Over 600 foreign thinkers and intellectuals from 80 world countries and over 400 elites from Iran are attending the two-day conference.