Iran urges global fight against terrorism, extremism

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has stressed the importance of strengthening international cooperation in the fight against terrorism, extremism and violence.

Speaking to reporters in Beirut on Monday, Zarif said that regional countries including Iran, Lebanon, Syria and Saudi Arabia are victims of terrorism and Takfiri ideology.

He made the remark after paying tribute to the martyrs of the Hezbollah resistance movement and those who lost their lives in a terrorist attack targeting Iran’s embassy in Beirut.

On November 19, 2013, two bomb attacks near the Iranian Embassy in Beirut killed 25 people, including six Iranian nationals, and injured more than 150.

Following the incident, the Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed responsibility for the bombings. Beirut later managed to arrest the Saudi leader of the terrorist group, Majed al-Majed, but he was announced dead in Lebanon’s military hospital on January 4.

The Iranian top diplomat arrived in Lebanon late on Sunday at the head of a political and parliamentary delegation at the first leg of a three-nation tour of the Middle East.

Earlier on Monday, Zarif held talks with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman.

    “The Islamic Republic of Iran emphasized Lebanon’s unity and cooperation among all groups in the country,” the Iranian foreign minister said.

He told reporters after the meeting that he held discussions with Sleiman about Tehran-Beirut cooperation and regional issues including the crisis in Syria.

The two sides called for cooperation among all countries to restore stability and stop the spread of extremism in the region.

Zarif’s visits to Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon are in line with Iran’s active regional diplomacy and come on the heels of the top diplomat’s previous regional tours which took him to Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar.

R.S