Undermining regional states to ease terror infiltration

A senior Iranian official has expressed the Islamic Republic’s support for the territorial integrity of the Middle Eastern countries, and said undermining regional states will help terrorists find a foothold in these states.

Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on international affairs, made the remark on the sidelines of a meeting with visiting President of the French Senate Gerard Larcher in Tehran on Sunday.

Velayati said the maintenance of territorial integrity of the regional countries was discussed at the meeting.

“We believe that the weakening of regional states could result in the infiltration of terrorism into these countries.”
The two also emphasized that terrorism must be fought at both regional and international levels.

Iran and France share common viewpoints on battling terrorism and extremist activities of Takfiri groups, including Daesh, which is committing crimes in the region, Velyati said.

Touching upon the Syrian crisis, the Iranian official said that Tehran and Paris are in agreement on Syria’s issues as well as countering terrorism, adding they dismiss any military solution to the conflict in the Arab country.

Stressing the need to safeguard Syria’s territorial integrity, Velayati said that the Syrian people will decide their own future and that no foreign country has the right to interfere in the internal affairs of Damascus.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people and left over one million injured, according to UN.

Larcher, for his part, described as positive his meeting with Velayati and said that they had discussed the situation in Syria and Iraq during the meeting.

He pointed to terrorism as a major threat, underlining that cooperation between regional and international powers is a contributing factor in countering the menace.

The remarks come as the Takfiri Daesh terror group, which is mainly operating in Iraq and Syria, has been wreaking havoc on areas under its control. It commits heinous crimes in the name of Islam, killing innocent people and disseminating the extremist and Takfiri dogma.

The group is sponsored by certain foreign states, which turn a blind eye to the atrocities and crimes committed at the hands of the terrorists.