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Iran Counters Clinton's 'Dictatorship' Remark

   VOA News 16 February 2010
   Iranian  Foreign  Minister  Manouchehr  Mottaki  speaks with the media
   during  a  joint  press conference with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet
   Davutoglu, in Tehran, 16 Feb 2010

Photo: AP

   Iranian  Foreign  Minister  Manouchehr  Mottaki  speaks with the media
   during  a  joint  press conference with his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet
   Davutoglu, in Tehran, 16 Feb 2010

   Iran's  foreign  minister  has refuted U.S. Secretary of State Hillary
   Clinton's   recent   remarks   that   Iran   is  becoming  a  military
   dictatorship.
   Iranian media quote Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki saying Tuesday
   that  Clinton  is  trying  to  manipulate  public opinion of Iran with
   "unreal and incorrect issues."
   On Monday, Clinton told an audience of students in Qatar that the U.S.
   believes  the  Iranian  government  is being "supplanted" by the elite
   Revolutionary Guard military force.
   Mottaki  made  the  same  accusation  about the United States Tuesday,
   saying  it  has acted like a military dictatorship through its actions
   in Iraq and Afghanistan.
   The  United  States  believes  Iran's nuclear program poses a security
   threat,  and  Washington  is leading efforts to impose additional U.N.
   sanctions against Tehran.
   Clinton said new sanctions should target the Revolutionary Guard.

   Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.

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