Iranian FM Blames Western Tolerance of Wahhabism as Root Cause of Worldwide Terrorism

Rasa - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif lashed out at the West for increasing terrorist activities across the globe, saying extremist and terrorist groups in the region were born and raised as a direct result of Western miscalculations about how to approach mainstream Islam that included its support for Wahhabism.

News ID: 430322

Date: 13 June 2017 - 23:07

RNA - In three messages on his Twitter account, the Iranian foreign minister first noted the West's attitude towards the creation of Wahhabi terrorist groups in the 1980s, saying, "First (80’s) trap: fear-mongering about Iran misled the West to tolerate global promotion of Wahhabism, resulting in AQ (al-Qaeda), ISIS, Nusrah...".

He further blamed Washington for its direct support for terrorist groups to push mainstream Islam out of the scene, and said, "New trap: US complicity in marginalizing mature Muslim groups will again leave the field wide open for Wahabbist extremist recruitment."

"Recent developments have made our long-standing proposal for an inclusive Regional Dialogue Forum in the Persian Gulf ever more imperative," Zarif underlined.

In relevant remarks in 2016, Zarif said that the world cannot afford to sit by and witness Wahhabists targeting not only Christians, Jews and Shiites, but also Sunnis.

"Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, militant Wahhabism has undergone a series of face-lifts, but underneath, the ideology remains the same — whether it’s the Taliban, the various incarnations of Al Qaeda, or the so-called Islamic State, which is neither Islamic nor a state. But the millions of people faced with the Nusra Front’s tyranny are not buying the fiction of this disaffiliation," Zarif wrote in an article published in the opinion page of the US-based New York Times daily last year.

"While these extremists, with the backing of their wealthy sponsors, have targeted Christians, Jews, Yezidis, Shiites and other “heretics,” it is their fellow Sunni Arabs who have been most beleaguered by this exported doctrine of hate. Indeed, it is not the supposed ancient sectarian conflict between Sunnis and Shiites, but the contest between Wahhabism and mainstream Islam that will have the most profound consequences for the region and beyond," he added.

"The attacks in Nice, Paris and Brussels should convince the West that the toxic threat of Wahhabism cannot be ignored. After a year of almost weekly tragic news, the international community needs to do more than express outrage, sorrow and condolences; concrete action against extremism is needed," Zarif stressed at the time.

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