Iran: More UNSC seats for Muslim states

Iran’s foreign minister has stressed the necessity of allocating more permanent and non-permanent seats in the UN Security Council to Islamic countries.

“In the past two decades the UN has faced important challenges and has lost its efficiency to effectively respond to the needs of the modern world,” Manouchehr Mottaki said at the Organization of the Islamic Conferences (OIC) Foreign Ministers Annual Coordination Meeting at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Sunday.

The OIC, which was established in 1969, is the second-largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations and has 57 member states spread over four continents.

“Therefore, continuing the process of revising the structure of this organization (the UNSC) with the aim of strengthening its capabilities and enhancing its capacities… is an unavoidable necessity,” IRNA quoted Mottaki as saying.

The Iranian foreign minister added that the UN decision-making process should be more democratized and its activities more clear.

Mottaki referred to the mounting trend of Islamophobia as the Islamic world’s main challenge in the West and called for the cooperation of all Muslim countries and the adoption of collective measure to effectively counter the phenomenon.

Anti-Islam protesters in the US desecrated the Qur’an on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks by burning pages of the Muslim holy book which caused worldwide protests.