Terrorism main threat to world peace: Iran diplomat

An Iranian Foreign Ministry official has singled out terrorism as the major threat to world peace.

“Terrorism is a phenomenon that endangers the lives, security and comfort of people in different forms,” said Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Morteza Sarmadi at an international counter-terrorism conference in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Wednesday.

The Iranian official further noted that irrespective of its victim, “terrorism is a hated and condemned phenomenon.”

He further rejected any discriminatory and selective solution to counter terrorism in the world, saying concern for the interests of a handful of countries shouldn’t hamper efforts to tackle threats to world peace and security.

He termed terrorist acts by the Israeli regime as an obvious example of “state terrorism” that the Western countries overlook.

He pointed out the Western countries’ inaction is among the main reasons behind the ongoing terrorist acts by the Tel Aviv regime and the international community’s failure to cope with such crimes.

He also touched upon Western countries’ contradictory positions on the issue of terrorism in Syria, saying Tehran has always condemned double standards adopted by certain countries toward terrorist groups and categorizing them as “good” and “bad”.

In January, the United States classified militants fighting against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for sending weapons to them.

The militants were classified by Washington as moderates, the foreign-backed ones operating in the south of the country, and extremists, the other militants fighting in Syria.

Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since 2011. According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies -- especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey -- are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/03/13/354492/terrorism-main-threat-to-world-peace/