Leader’s Advisor: Paris Attacks Indicate Spread of Terrorism to West

Supreme Leader’s senior advisor Ali Akbar Velayati said the terrorist attack that killed 12 people in Paris on Wednesday indicated that terrorism is now spreading to the western states as already warned by Iran.
“We condemn the terrorist actions that took place in France as the Islamic Republic of Iran deplores any terrorist move which leads to the killing of innocent people in any part of the world and we regret that many French people have been killed by the terrorists,” Velayati said on the sidelines of a meeting with Cypriot Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides in Tehran on Saturday.

“This should warn those western or regional states that support terrorists directly or indirectly that when the dirty flames of terrorism are blown, they will spread to the entire world,” he added.

Velayati underlined that terrorism has a blind logic which is not accepted by any religion, including Islam and Christianity.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry on Wednesday deplored the terrorist attack in the French capital city.

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham condemned the attack, and said any act of terrorism against innocent people was opposed to Islamic teachings.

“Misusing freedom of expression, ideological extremism and character assassination of respectful figures of religions and nations as well as insulting divine faiths and their values and symbols which are respected by those religions are not acceptable and are condemned,” Afkham said.

Reacting to the Paris incident, she said those acts were continuation of the wave of extremism and unprecedented physical and ideological violence prevailing worldwide during the past decade.

Afkham regretted that the “inappropriate and double standard policies in dealing with violence and extremism have led to the spread of those acts and behaviors”.
She reiterated President Rouhani’s idea of creating a world free from violence and extremism, and expressed the hope that world leaders would adopt a unified policy through consultation and free from double standard policies to uproot causes of violence and extremism.

At least 12 people were killed on Wednesday when masked gunmen stormed the Paris offices of the weekly satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, and opened fire. The French authorities have called the incident the worst terror attack in four decades.