Countering Extremism Needs United Efforts, Says Zarif

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad JavadZarif has warned against the rising threat of extremism on a global scale and urged a united effort to eliminate it.

“The sphere of extremism is expanding across the world, and to get rid of that, certain countries should change their views about this scourge,” Zarif told reporters at the end of the 4th Ministerial Conference of Istanbul Process on Afghanistan in the Chinese capital city of Beijing.

 Zarif noted that the threat of extremism is not restricted to a specific region and underlined the need for a collective will to counter it.

Extremism and violence have become a major challenge facing Muslim countries, with Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon becoming the scene of deadly terrorist operations almost on a daily basis.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Zarif pointed to the latest achievements of the conference on Afghanistan and noted that, in the final statement, the delegates stressed the need for the reconstruction of Afghanistan, alternative development methods to be replaced with narcotics cultivation, and the eradication of terrorism as well as drug gangs.

Abdollahian warns against West’s plots for Syria

On the other hand, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian lashed out at the western countries and their regional allies for interfering in Syria’s internal affairs, and said helping the Kurdish people of besieged Kobani city should not be used by the West as a pretext for further foreign intervention in Syria.

“Helping the people in the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani should not be used as an excuse for foreign intervention in the Arab country,” Amir Abdollahian said on Thursday.

He warned against the excessive foreign interferences in Syria, and said, “Those who pursue specific goals are pushing Syria towards disintegration.”

The Iranian deputy foreign minister reiterated that protecting Syria’s territorial integrity and national unity will be in the interest of the Syrian people and all regional countries.

Amir Abdollahian, meantime, criticized the US for its destructive policies which have resulted in the escalation of terrorism and foreign interventions in the Middle East on the pretext of fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group.

According to reports, the intense fighting for the strategic town has also forced over 200,000 people to take refuge in neighboring Turkey.

Kobani, Syria’s largest Kurdish city, has seen intense battles over the past tow months as ISIL terrorists are trying to seize the city due to its strategic location.

Earlier this month, Iran’s Chief of Staff Major General Hassan Firouzabadi said the ISIL attack on Kobani is only a plot to provide an excuse for the US-led coalition to start a military build-up in Syria.

“You can smell conspiracy in the air as it seems that they want to victimize the Kobani people to pave the ground for the presence of the coalition’s military presence in Syria,” Firouzabadi said.

“We are truly worried about this massacre and believe that it is a catastrophic crime in mankind history,” he said.

He also smashed the US-led coalition for its selective airstrikes on ISIL-occupied territories which, he said, will further accelerate the ISIL’s operational advances.

PRESS T.V, FNA

R.S