Iranian officials and state-run media for as long as they could have turned a blind eye to the weeks-long unrest in Syria. But as the turbulence in Syria and international outrage over the hundreds killed gain momentum, many Iranian diplomats, pundits and academics can evade the question no longer.
In an interview on Iran’s Arabic-language Alam TV on Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, unable to sidestep addressing the concerns about unrest in Syria, vaguely and tactfully stated that Iran respected the sovereignty of other countries.
But then, in a turn of boldness that many consider hypocritical, he subtly advised the Syrian regime to give in to democratic demands that Iran has long denied its own people.
