Supreme Leader Raps West’s Insistence on Using “Islamic State” Term

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei lashed out at the insistence of Western countries, the US in particular, on using the term ‘Islamic State’ in reference to certain terrorist groups, saying that such moves are an insult to the Muslim population.

The insistence of Americans and other Westerners in using the term ‘Islamic State’ to refer to certain terrorist groups is an insult to Muslims, the Leader said in a Saturday meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping here in Tehran.

Such moves indirectly lead to the reinforcement of such groups instead of resolving the problem, Ayatollah Khamenei stressed.

The Leader further referred to the wrong policies pursued by the West as well as distorted interpretations of Islam as main reasons behind the ongoing insecurity in the Middle East, adding that such thoughts have their roots in certain regional states.

“Instead of countering the main roots of such thoughts and terrorist groups, Westerners have been attacking and putting Muslims under pressure, while these terrorist moves are totally far from the correct Islamic thought,” Supreme Leader added.

Ayatollah Khamenei also pointed to the US claims on forming a so-called coalition against terrorism as a “deceit”, and stressed that Americans adopt such an approach in all issues. “They never show honest behavior.”

In similar remarks back in November 2015, the Leader had noted that it is wrong to pin hopes on the assistance of the US and the West in the fight against such terrorist groups as Daesh and Boko Haram.

Daesh (ISIL or Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant), as a Takfiri group in Iraq and Syria, is believed to be supported by the West and some regional Arab countries.

The terrorist group claims as an independent state the territory of Iraq and Syria, with implied future claims intended over more of the Levant, including Lebanon, occupied Palestine, Jordan, Cyprus, and Southern Turkey.