The parliament speaker said on Wednesday Western countries should abandon their double standard on democracy in the region.
Ali Larijani made the remarks at a press conference held on the sidelines of the 131st IPU (The Inter-Parliamentary Union) Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. He said, "If Western countries seek to defend democracy, they should not rely mainly on dictatorial countries and render democracy to their own benefit," the Mehr news agency reported.
The senior lawmaker referred to the support given to terrorist groups by some countries in the region and said, "The regional states should bear in mind that it is no longer the time to manipulate democracy and that the anti-terror campaign is no more an entertaining game."
He touched on the ongoing nuclear talks between Iran and the major powers and said the charges leveled against Iran over its nuclear program can be dispelled through transparent measures rather than holding "negotiations on the number of centrifuges."
