Iran's supreme leader blames US for Russia war on Ukraine
Iran's supreme leader said the United States was the "root cause" of the Ukraine war as he refrained from condemning Russia for the invasion.
"Ukraine is a victim to America's policy of crisis instigation," declared Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a televised address, as the Russian invasion of its western neighbor entered a sixth day.
"US interference through velvet movements and color coups," Khamenei said, "pulled Ukraine into where it is now."
Despite expressing support for a "halt to the war," Khamenei avoided condemning Russia for waging it, and made no reference to Ukraine's territorial integrity. Yet he attacked the United States and the Western world as the root causes of the ongoing conflict.
"We are against wars and destruction anywhere in the world… unlike Western governments, which turn Afghan weddings into funerals with their bombardments, and brand it war on terror," the Iranian leader said.
