Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi says Iran supports the protesters in Egypt and elsewhere in North Africa, the ISNA news agency reports.

"Popular protests and movements in North African countries, including in Egypt, show necessity of an overhaul in the region and putting an end to dictatorial rules," he says. "Tunisian and Egyptian nations proved that the era of engineering and controlling the region by the world arrogance is over and that people are trying to decide about their fate."

He criticized the the United States for what he called meddling in Egyptian affairs.

"Egyptian brothers and sisters showed that they will not continue to tolerate Zionist regime's crimes," the foreign minister says Monday, according to ISNA.