Tehran supports the Arab spring ... but not in Syria | Saeed Kamali Dehghan | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
►http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/18/iran-arab-spring-syria-uprisings
Similarities between Mubarak and #Iran's former dictator, the shah (such as long-term American support and the corruption of their families) allowed the regime in Tehran to liken the Arab uprisings to the Islamic revolution in 1979 rather than the green movement. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, even labelled the Arab uprising as “an Islamic awakening” inspired by Iran’s 1979 revolution.
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By highlighting US hypocrisy in dealing with the unrest in Bahrain and Yemen and the American failure to publicly condemn the violence used by both governments in suppressing their own people, Iran has won some recognition within the region. Yet Syria clearly exposes Iran’s own hypocrisy.
Iran has portrayed the Syrian pro-democracy demonstrators – unlike others in the Arab world – as “agitators” and “terrorists” hired by Israel to create disturbance and insecurity.