In a meeting with President of the Belgian Senate Christine Defraigne, Iranian President said military attacks and bombing are not fundamental solutions to terrorism.
In this meeting which was held on Saturday in Tehran, Dr Rouhani pointed out the root causes of terrorism and said: "Besides economic and cultural roots of terrorism such as poverty and ignorance, discrimination and young people’s despair of the future and their protest against the world powers’ interference in their countries are also basic roots of terrorism".
He continued: "One of the root causes of terrorism is despair and that some feel discriminated against and do not see the existing rules and regulations effective for solving their problems."
“To combat terrorism, all facilities should be used for uprooting this scourge” President Rouhani added.
Mentioning EU’s delayed treatment of terrorism, he said: “Unfortunately during the years when the people of Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria were dealing with terrorism, Europe was to some extent indifferent and it entered the arena of fighting the scourge only when its flames reached Europe”.
“Terrorism should be combatted anywhere, with any motto and terrorists should not be divided into good terrorists and bad terrorists for short-term interests,” added the President.
He continued: “We were dealing with terrorism in the beginning years of the Islamic Revolution and they brutally killed our authorities and people; and unfortunately, the same terrorists are living and working freely in Europe”.
“Terrorists’ obtaining of chemical weapons is so terrible and the Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the victims of chemical attacks and understands it because thousands of victims of chemical weapons are still suffering from its injuries,” added Rouhani.
He also said: “We should block income sources and channels of arms transfer to the terrorists and do not let terrorists plunder Iraq and Syria’s oil and artefacts and sell them in certain markets”.
In this meeting, President of the Belgian Senate Christine Defraigne said that Belgium demands a new chapter in Iran-Belgium ties in all areas of mutual interest.
She also stressed that Brussels will stand by Iran in fighting terrorism and added: “Iran is the stabilising factor in the region and it can play a vital role in combatting terrorism”.