Iran Voices Concern over Terrorists’ Flow from Western Countries to Middle-East

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif voiced Tehran’s serious concern over the flow of western nationals to the Middle-East to join terrorist groups operating in the Persian Gulf region.
“Iran is concerned about the flow of terrorists from the western countries to the Persian Gulf region,” Zarif said in a meeting with UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein in Geneva on Monday.

The Iranian foreign minister underlined the need for decisive campaign against terrorism and extremism through a single, and not double-standard, approach and without any discrimination.

Zarif slammed the western countries for their double-standards in dealing with human rights issues, including the freedom of speech and desecration of religions.

The Iranian foreign minister voiced Iran’s readiness to cooperate with the UN high commissioner for human rights, and said, “Iran is concerned about the growing trend of Islamophobia in the West.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
Al-Hussein, for his part, voiced readiness for increasing talks and cooperation between the two sides, and said he welcomes efforts which could improve the human rights conditions.

On Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the spread of the new waves of violence and extremism is threatening peace and security worldwide, and called for global coordination and cooperation to eradicate terrorist groups.

Speaking in a meeting with Italian Foreign Minister Paulo Gentiloni, President Rouhani said that terrorism has posed major threat to the international community, and that global cooperation is necessary to get rid of the menace of terrorism.

He said that the Iranian government had repeatedly warned western governments that if they support terrorism in countries like Syria, Iraq and Libya, they will face such threats in their own homelands as well.

President Rouhani stressed that he is pleased to see Iran has grown into a major supporter for those nations and governments fighting against terrorism, and underlined that Iran would never leave its neighbors alone in the fight against terrorism.

In December, participants in the first international conference on ‘World Against violence and Extremism (WAVE)’ in Tehran in their final statement asked the world governments, politicians and religious leaders to condemn terrorism, violence and extremism in all forms.

The conference came in the aftermath of a last year proposal by President Rouhani during his address to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York on September 25, 2013, which received the approval of the UNGA after being endorsed by an overwhelming majority of the member states on December 18, 2013.

During his address to the opening of the 1st WAVE conference, President Rouhani proposed that December 18 be named as the International Day against Violence and Extremism.

Also, the participants in the Tehran conference welcomed the proposal in their final statement, and underscored the necessity for the world states, politicians and religious leaders to condemn terrorism, violence and extremism in all forms.