Leader Warns of Hostile Plots to Incite Shiite-Sunni Rift
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei cautioned against enemy plots that aim to incite discord among the Shiite and Sunni Muslims inside Iran.
Back on May 4, Ayatollah Khamenei had a meeting with members of a committee in charge of holding a ceremony to commemorate the Muslim Peshmerga (Kurdish fighters) who devoted their lives to defending Iran against enemies.
The Leader’s remarks in that meeting were read out in a ceremony in honor of the Kurdish martyrs, held in Iran’s Western city of Sanandaj on Monday morning.
Ayatollah Khamenei paid tribute to the Peshmerga fighters who risked their lives defending the country, saying the anti-revolution groups had even threatened their families.
The Supreme Leader also underlined that the enemy’s policy of employing “ethnicity” and “religion” for making Iran’s Kurdish regions insecure has failed.
“The enemy will not give up and will continue enmity as far as it can by employing a host of security, propaganda and financial tools it possesses,” the Leader warned.
Ayatollah Khamenei noted that enemies are unable to use “ethnic provocations” in Iran when it comes to Kurds, but cautioned against the hostile plots that aim to “ignite the flames of religious bigotry and discord among Shiites and Sunnis.”
The Leader also deplored any conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, and explained that a person who fights against Shiites under the guise of support for Sunnis is indeed not interested in Sunnism or Islam, and a Shiite Muslim who fans the flames of zeal against Sunnis has no motivation to respect religion.
Pointing to the hostile plots against Islam, Ayatollah Khamenei referred to Britain’s long experience in inciting religious discord among Shiites and Sunnis, and also a plan in the US Congress to support Sunni Muslim in Iraq.
“Do they really like Sunnis?” the Leader asked, and added, “They are against anything that has a sign of Islam and see no difference between Shiites and Sunnis, and issues like religion and ethnicity are excuses for them to create discord.”
On April 27, the Armed Services Committee of the US House of Representatives released the draft of the US annual defense bill, which urges the US government to recognize separate Kurdish and Sunni states and provide them with at least 25 percent of the USD-715-million aid money planned to be given to the Iraqi government to help it fight the ISIL terrorist group.
The bill mandates that "the Kurdish Peshmerga, the Sunni tribal security forces with a national security mission, and the Iraqi Sunni National Guard be deemed a country,” adding that doing so “would allow these security forces to directly receive assistance from the United States.”
