TEHRAN – Iranian President Hassan Rohani on Thursday condemned the Egyptian military’s violent crackdown on civilians.

“I tell the Egyptian military that the great people of Egypt are a great and freedom-seeking people. Do not suppress them,” Rohani said during an open session of the Majlis.

“The path of the people is the path of democracy and Islam. All the people in the world should respect the will of the Egyptian people,” he added and sympathized with people in Egypt.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry also issued a statement on Wednesday, saying, “The current course of events in Egypt strengthens the likelihood of civil war in the great Muslim country of Egypt.”