Threat to Shiite Sites of Iraq, Iran’s Red Line: President
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani described any threat to the holy shrines of Shiite Imams in Iraq as a red line for the Islamic Republic.
Addressing a ceremony held Saturday in Tehran in commemoration of martyrs, President Rouhani said Iran made it clear from the onset of Daesh (ISIL) offensive against Iraq that any sacrilegious move against the holy shrines of Shiite Imams in the Arab country is Tehran’s red line.
No act of aggression against the holy shrines of Imams will be allowed, he stressed.
The president also noted that Iran takes pride in its younger generation and the community of families of the martyrs, who are ready to defend Islam and the sanctity of Imams, whenever necessary.
Back in September 2014, President Rouhani said in an interview with American network NBC News that any threats to ‘Atabat’ -Iraq’s holy cities like Karbala and Najaf- are Iran’s red line.
“When we say red line we mean it… It means we will not allow Baghdad to be occupied by the terrorists or the religious sites such as Karbala or Najaf to be occupied by the terrorists,” he had said.
Daesh is a terrorist group that made advances in northern and western Iraq in summer 2014, after capturing swaths of northern Syria.
However, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and the volunteer 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 Daesh offensive.
