"This dark extremist ideology cannot be eliminated only through military, political or economic means. Any effective strategy against FTFs must entail in the first place a major cultural and ideological component. It is essential that the Member States strengthen their cooperation at the international , regional, sub-regional and bilateral levels including through enhanced operational and timely information sharing", Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Iran to the United Nations Gholamali Khoshroo stated.
'By having such a common strategy, the countries of the region could effectively stop the movement of foreign terrorist fighters and their infiltration into the regional countries,' Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations, said in his address at the High-Level Conference of the Heads of Agencies Combating terrorism titled 'Combating the evolving threats from Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs)'.
Relevant UN reports indicate that over 25,000 Foreign Terrorist Fighters had gone to Syria from over 100 Member States, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Iran to the United Nations noted, adding that this figure demonstrates that the threats related to the FTFs is complicated and multi-faceted and needs urgent attention of the international community.
"As our world recognizes no borders, all parts of the world are being more or less threatened by this spreading scourge. 'In Analyzing the root causes of joining of individuals to FTFs, while we agree that such factors as dictatorship, poverty, corruption and discrimination could serve as a contributing factors under certain circumstances, abundant experience and facts clearly show that only a destructive ideology could turn an otherwise peaceful human into a destructive being", Khoshroo added.
Saying that Iran is a victim of terrorism including operations conducted and sponsored by the Taliban, Al-Qaida, MKO and ISIS, Khoshroo said over the past four decades around 17,000 Iranian citizens have been affected by terrorist attacks. The measures adopted by my Government in response to the relevant Security Council and GA resolutions have been reported to the CTED and the CTC.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres also said at the opening of "the first United Nations High-level Conference of Heads of Counter-Terrorism Agencies of Member States" that terrorism and violent extremism undermine international peace and security.
"Terrorism and violent extremism also divide communities and destabilize the entire region", Guterres added.
Meanwhile, Iran's deputy foreign minister, Seyyed Abbas Araqchi recently said that there is no universally- accepted definition of terrorism and Western countries abuse this ambiguity and vagueness , to brand the Islamic resistance movement, and various liberation movements, particularly anti-Zionist liberation movements as Terrorist organizations.
