Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that the "hegemonic powers" are seeking to maintain their influence in the Middle East by capitalizing on internal disputes in the region, Press TV reported.
Ahmadinejad made the remarks during a meeting with the participants of the second International Conference of Islamic World Publishers in Tehran on Sunday, IRNA reported.
He stated that the "arrogant powers" have supported dictators for one hundred years, noting that they seem to have made a U-turn after the revolutions in the region and now claim to be defenders of human rights.
After the victory of Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979, the US government came to realize that it could not continue plundering the region, Ahmadinejad said.
He went on to say that NATO member states held several meetings to discuss ways to loot Libya's wealth and oil and divide the spoils of war before a popular government came to power in the North African country.
Hundreds of publishers from forty-one countries are discussing Islamophobia and the common challenges facing Muslim nations at the second International Conference of Islamic World Publishers, which opened on November 13 and closes the next day.