Europe safe haven for terrorists: Larijani

Secretary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights Mohammad Javad Larijani says European countries currently serve as a safe haven for terrorist groups.

“While international regulations regard fight against terrorism as a commitment for all world countries, we are unfortunately witnessing that European countries have now turned into a safe haven for terrorists, including Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) and the Party for Free Life of Kurdistan (PJAK) terror groupings,” Larijani said in a meeting with a secretary general at Belgium’s Foreign Ministry Chevalier L. van der Elst on Tuesday.

PJAK is an offshoot of the internationally-recognized terrorist group, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which conducts deadly operations in western Iran, northern Iraq and southern Turkey.

The MKO is also listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community and has committed numerous terrorist acts against Iranians and Iraqis.

Larijani criticized Western countries’ dual policies on the issue of terrorism and said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran, as one of the biggest victims of terrorism, has always had a fixed and unchanged stance on the issue [of fighting terror].”

He reiterated that Iran is committed to all international documents it has signed on the issue of human rights.

Also pointing to the ongoing developments in Iraq and Syria, Larijani said the United States is banging the drums for fighting terrorism, but, hand in hand with certain other Western countries, use terrorism as a “lever” to promote its objectives.

He emphasized that the adverse consequences of such measures would affect all countries throughout the world.

The Belgian official, for his part, expressed concern over the expansion of terrorism and stressed the importance of bolstering cooperation to confront it.

He called for close cooperation with Iran in different fields including the issue of human rights.