Concerted Action Sole Remedy for Terrorism Crisis: Larijani
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said the only effective way to root out terrorism in the Middle East region is cooperation among the Muslim nations and their collective support for counter-terrorism.
“Given the fact that the regional countries have become more aware of the terrorist crises since last year, the problem of terrorism in the region should be settled through discussions with different countries,” Larijani told reporters upon his arrival in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf on Tuesday.
The Iranian speaker arrived in Iraq on the last leg of a tour of regional countries that took him earlier to Syria and Lebanon.
He described one of the main purposes of his visit to Iraq as holding talks with the Arab country’s officials on the ways to stem terrorism.
“The region’s countries fall into two categories. Some of them have implicitly supported terrorism and some others have voiced opposition (to terrorism) and stood beside the Iraqi people,” Larijani explained.
Since summer, Iraq has been the scene of clashes between military forces and the ISIL militants. who made swift advances in northern and western parts of the county after capturing swaths of northern Syria.
Meanwhile, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and the popular forces, who rushed to take arms after top Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling for fight against the militants, have blunted the edge of the ISIL offensive.
Amid tensions in Iraq, Iran is known as the first country to help the Arab country and has always voiced support for Iraq’s solidarity and prosperity.