“Never trust America, Nato, and the criminal regimes like Britain, France and  Italy who for a long time divided and plundered your lands,” Ayatollah Ali  Khamenei told an international Islamic conference in Tehran on Saturday.

“Hold suspicion of them and don’t believe their smiles. Behind those smiles  and promises lie conspiracy and treason,” he added.

Iran has sought to portray the popular uprisings transforming the Arab world  as a replay of its 1979 Islamic Revolution, which toppled the pro-US Shah and  brought hard-line clerics to power.

In Iran’s view, the collapse of pro-US governments in Egypt and Tunisia was a  strong blow to US influence in the region and a new “Islamic awakening.”

Khamenei said the US and Nato will try to dominate the future governments of  Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and other nations in the Middle East. He urged those  nations not to let this happen and to preserve their Islamic traditions.

“Don’t allow your enemies to write the principles of your future government  for you. Don’t let Islamic principles be sacrificed for short-term interests,”  he told his audience.

Another non-Arab power in the region, Turkey, is trying to sell its own model  for balancing Islam and secularism to the transforming Arab world. Turkey  currently has an Islamic-based political party governing a secular  democracy.

Khamenei, however, urged Arabs to reject Western liberalism and form their  governments solely on the basis of Islam.

“To create a system is your big and key job, which is complicated and  difficult. Don’t let secular or Western, liberal models as well as extremist  nationalism … be imposed on you,” he said.