A top Iranian cleric said Friday it would be impossible for the United States to topple the nearly 25-year-old Islamic republic, accusing Washington of fomenting unrest but saying it had only served to strengthen the regime. "The July demonstration was a scandal for the Americans," Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said in a Friday prayers sermon. "Thinking this regime will be toppled with one move is stupid and short-sighted," said Jannati, an Islamic conservative and secretary general of the powerful Guardians Council, a legislative vetting body. "This regime is stable. If the regime could be overthrown, it would have been toppled during the first days of the revolution," he added. "Whatever plots and conspiracies you have come up with, the power of the regime has increased."
| Oooh! Deep-laid plots! Insidious conspiracies! I like it! |
His comments were greeted by the habitual chants of "Death to America!", "Death to Israel!" and also "Death to England!.
| "Death to [fill in name here]!" |
The cleric alleged the demonstrators who took to the streets in July and for 10 days in June for protests marked by virulent anti-regime slogans and violent clashes had been paid to do so by the United States.
| I confess! It was me! I paid 'em, each and every one! |
"Do you believe that you can topple the regime with a bunch of dollars? If you do believe that, then you are stupid," he argued, describing opponents of the Islamic regime set up in 1979 as "politically bankrupt".
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