Rafsanjani Urges United Front against Terrorism
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Head of Iran’s Expediency Council (EC) warned that terrorism is becoming a global threat and world governments need to join hands to counter it.
“The governments should disregard their transient interests in regard with the regional issues and unite against terrorism,” Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said in a meeting with Turkish Ambassador to Iran Umit Yardim, here in Tehran on Sunday.
The Iranian official also warned against the extremist moves in Syrian and Iraq, saying the radical groups have not only disrupted security in the region, but also have been a disgrace to the true Muslims in the world.
Rafsanjani also noted that members of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group, who are now engaged in criminal acts in Iraq, will one day “disrupt the security of the countries that are sponsoring them.”
Yardim, for his part, deplored the status quo as a dark era in the history of Islam, and called for a swift political solution to the conflicts in the region.
He also voiced concern about the situation in Iraq, saying negotiating with Tehran over bilateral and regional developments tops Ankara’s foreign policy.
The meeting took place amid escalating security in Iraq following lightning attacks by the ISIL terrorists.
The ISIL militants have stormed largely unopposed across much of northern Iraq, capturing several cities, seizing several border crossings with Jordan and Syria and advancing to within some 100km of the capital Baghdad.
The terrorists’ attacks have reportedly forced more than half a million people in Nineveh Province to flee their homes.
