President Rouhani Highlights Unity of Iran's Shiites, Sunnis
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday hailed the unity among all Iranian Muslims, saying such solidarity would help eradicate terrorism in the Middle East.
Addressing a large gathering of people in Sunni-majority Kurdistan province, west of Iran, Rouhani stressed that the Iranian nation does not discriminate between Shiites and Sunnis.
"Shiites and Sunnis are brothers and united with one another," he reiterated.
The Iranian president further referred to the threat of terrorism, saying, "We will cleanse the entire region of terrorists through our unity and solidarity."
Sunni and Shiite Islam are the two major branches of the religion.
Between 70 to 80 percent of the 1.6 billion Muslims in the world are Sunnis.
Iran’s population, in contrast to the Muslim World, has overwhelmingly more Shiites than Sunnis. Between 90 to 95 percent of the Iranians are Shiites.
As well as Iran, Shiites make up the majority of the population in Iraq and Bahrain, and a politically significant minority in Lebanon.
During the past years, many Takfiri groups have tried to create Shiite-Sunni tensions by exaggerating the differences between the two sects, which makes efforts to enhance Islamic unity more essential than ever.