Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says combating terrorism must be assigned to Muslim states, expressing regret that terrorism activities are wrongly attributed to Islam.
“Of course, such a fight must be conducted by those Muslim countries that are not following the US and Western policies because these countries have no real and serious intention for fight against terrorists,” Ayatollah Khamenei said in a meeting with Indian Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in Tehran.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was present in the Monday meeting.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran is serious in the fight against terrorism and will exhaust all its potentialities for countering it,” said the Leader.
Ayatollah Khamenei warned that terrorist groups are recruiting forces among Muslims in different countries by taking advantage of weaknesses within Muslim communities.
“Countries must strip terrorists of such pretexts,” added the Leader.
Ayatollah Khamenei described terrorism as a contagious and dangerous disease and noted: “As it is possible to curb any contagious disease terrorism could be also countered and curbed.”
The Leader said “genuine and serious fight on terrorism” provides a ground for cooperation between Iran and India.
“Because certain Western countries are not serious in fight against terrorism and have been instrumental in the formation of terrorist currents in Afghanistan as well as terrorist groups in Iraq and Syria,” added Ayatollah Khamenei.
For his part, Modi echoed Ayatollah Khamenei’s call for serious fight on terrorism, regretting the division of terrorism into “good” and “bad” categories by some governments in a bid to overshadow fight on this phenomenon.
He also said that the countries that are serious in fighting terrorism must close ranks.
The Indian premier arrived in the Iranian capital on Sunday for a two-day visit at the head of a high-ranking delegation to boost economic and political relations with Tehran.
