Following are excerpts from an address delivered by Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, member of the Iranian Assembly of Experts, which aired on Channel 1, Iranian TV, on January 22, 2010.

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami: What emerges from the catastrophe [in Haiti] is its inhumane exploitation by the US. The US, under the pretext of humanitarian aid to the people of Haiti, deployed 18,000 troops to Haiti and officially occupied it.

Until last night, the US had prevented [the dispatching] of relief planes, which carried dozens of tons of food and medicine, as well as medical personnel, who wanted to provide humanitarian relief. It did not permit the arrival of urgent aid. If the US had allowed the planes to land, so many people under the rubble could have been rescued. Once again, the US is an accomplice to these crimes.

The US realizes that South America – which once was its backyard, and which the US believed was under its thumb... The US realizes that a wave of [South] American nationalism has begun, and its wants, by means of the occupation of Haiti, to uproot this movement.

But the US should know that what's done is done, and with the grace of God, this century will witness the decline of the [powers of] arrogance.

[...]

There have been news reports that the Zionist regime, in the case of the catastrophe of Haiti, and under the pretext of providing relief to the people of Haiti, is stealing the organs of these wretched people.