A senior Iranian lawmaker says the role of the United States in fomenting the ongoing crises in the Middle East can not be disputed, PressTV reported.
Chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of Iran's Majlis Alaeddin Boroujerdi made the remarks in separate meetings with Deputy Speaker of the Lithuanian parliament Algirdas Sysas and the Lithuanian head of the Iran-Lithuania Parliamentary Friendship Group Mečislovas Zasčiurinskas and his accompanying delegation to Tehran on Sunday.
"The role of the US in creating the crisis in the Middle East is undeniable and the West's strategic mistake in supporting terrorists in Syria led to the terrorist events in Iraq and Libya," Boroujerdi said.
Syria has been gripped by a deadly conflict, fueled by Western-backed militants, for more than three years. The crisis has overflown into Syria's eastern neighbor and escalated profoundly in early June after Takfiri ISIL militants took control of large swathes of Iraq. Moreover, Libya is still grappling with rising insecurity after the overthrow of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011.
Touching on Tel Aviv's recent onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip, the Iranian parliamentarian noted that Washington's support for the Zionist regime of Israel and the United Nations' failure to perform its duties have resulted in the continuation of the killing of the oppressed Gazans.
"Over the past half century, no event has hurt the hearts of people in the world to the extent that the massacre of Gaza children by the Zionist regime has done," Boroujerdi added.
The latest Israeli military aggression against Gaza, which began on July 8, has claimed the lives of more than 1,918 Palestinians, including more than 400 children, and wounded about 10,000 others.
The Iranian lawmaker further called for expansion of bilateral and regional ties between Tehran and Vilnius.
The deputy speaker of the Lithuanian parliament, for his part, emphasized that the government and the legislative body welcome the development of relations with the Islamic Republic in political, economic and parliamentarian areas.
For his turn, the head of the Iran-Lithuania Parliamentary Friendship Group said the expansion of bilateral ties calls for greater contact between the lawmakers of the two countries.