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Iran's leader urges Iraqis to stop anarchy

By MODHER AMIN

TEHRAN, April 13 (UPI) -- Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Sunday called on Iraqi people to observe "brotherhood" and avoid lawlessness, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The appeal was made in a message also broadcast on state media amid reports on looting and lawlessness across Iraq following the apparent collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime.

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"Honor brotherhood, be kind to each other, enforce law and order and avoid lawlessness, which is Haram (religiously forbidden)," he said.

He also extended his sympathy to the Iraqi people over the civilian casualties during the war.

Khamenei also called on the Iraqi people "to heed advice of the religious leaders to help restore law and order."

"The mosques are the best places where you can organize your national recovery and stop anarchy and chaos," he said.

On Saturday, Iranian and Syrian foreign ministers, Kamal Kharrazi and Faruq al-Shara, jointly called for an end to the ongoing chaos in Iraqi cities, describing the United States and Britain as "the forces of occupation" that hold "responsibility for the degradation of the situation in Iraq."

Iran has condemned the U.S.-led war in Iraq, its neighbor and long-time adversary with which it fought an eight-year war in the 1980s that claimed about 1 million lives. Iran calls its position "active neutrality," saying it will not back either side in the ongoing conflict.

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