President Rouhani: Islam is religion of peace; Iran ready for coop. with France in fighting terrorism

In a phone conversation with French President Hollande on Tuesday, Iranian President Rouhani voiced the country’s readiness to extend security and intelligence cooperation with France in the fight against terror and violence.

“Islam is the religion of peace and opposed to any act of terrorism. The terrorists’ attempts at contributing their atrocities to Islam is nothing but a big lie,” said Rouhani in a telephone conversation with his French counterpart on Tuesday.

The two sides had been scheduled for a visit in Paris on Tuesday, but the Friday’s deadly terrorist attacks in the French capital caused a state of emergency and the visit had to be postponed.

President Rouhani stressed that eliminating terrorists in Syria and Iraq must become top priority, calling for closer cooperation with France in fighting terrorism.

He referred to the tragic Paris terror attacks and the urgent need for unity and focus on battling terrorism, adding “terrorists can never reach their goals when faced with the will and determination of all nations and governments in the world.”

“ISIL terrorists by carrying out this extremely shocking, brutal and despicable attack, have challenged all countries to battle, therefore a global unity for fighting ISIL is imperative,” said Rouhani.

The Iranian President noted that the attacks had not been only on the French nation but the humanity as a whole; “we, as a country victimized by the scourge of terrorism, announce that we are ready to take any measures against terrorists in any part of the world.” he said.

The French President Francois Hollande, for his part, said the Paris terror attacks were an attack on all people in the world and “we must act in full coordination and unity with the world in fighting ISIL in Syria and Iraq.”

The French President further deemed imperative the elimination of ISIL’s financial and military resources, saying “I will try to unite all countries for a military fight against ISIL.”

Hollande while stressing that his country is ready to expand relations with Iran in all areas, said he is looking forward to the visit of President Rouhani, expressing hope the visit would take place as soon as possible.

The symbolic coinciding of the phone conversation with the previously-planned visit shows terrorism cannot interfere in the plans of world leaders and cause divisions among them, said Hamid Abutolabi, political deputy for the President’s Office; “Iran and France will be united in the fight against terrorism,” he added.

President Rouhani had been scheduled for a visit to three European countries – France, Italy, and Vatican City – on 17 November. Following the deadly terrorist attacks that killed nearly 130 people in several places in Paris on Friday evening, the President’s visit was postponed to a more convenient time.

President Rouhani has strongly condemned Paris terror attacks that were carried out by ISIL Takfiri terrorists, urging for “a more serious will and determination for a collective fight against terrorism.”



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