Iran’s FM cautions against spread of new wave of islamophobia

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi warned against the spread of a new wave of Islamophobia by the West and through its support for extremist and Takfiri groups, including al-Qaeda, in Muslim countries. “The West has created several radical groups under different names such as Takfiri, al-Qaeda, … in Muslim countries to portray Islam as a radical religion to the international community and propagate Islamophobia,” Salehi said, addressing a press conference in Tehran on Sunday. The Iranian foreign minister underlined that the arrogant powers are trying hard to spread Islamophobia throughout the world. In relevant remarks in October, Iranian Culture Minister Seyed Mohammad Hosseini blasted the world arrogant powers for their anti-Islam efforts, saying that the global arrogance has launched propaganda against Muslims by promoting Islamophobia via different means such as culture, art, cinema, and computer games. "The global arrogance intends to weaken the morale of Muslims through Islamophobia," the minister said, addressing a seminar at Tabriz University. He reiterated that the world arrogant powers try to basically introduce Islam as a violent and irrational religion. One of the issues that the world arrogance has used against Muslims is propagating Islamophobia or more precisely war on Islam by using different means of culture, art, cinema, and computer games, Hosseini said. Pointing to the sacrilegious film 'Innocence of Muslims' which insulted holy Prophet Mohammad (PBUH), the minister said that those behind the movie intend to "sow the seeds of discord between the followers of different faiths by disrespecting Islamic sanctities and the holy Prophet of Islam to achieve their own goals". "Innocence of Muslims", previously called Desert Warriors and Innocence of Bin Laden, is a 2012 anti-Muslim movie which insults Muslims' Prophet Mohammad (PBUH). The film has been financed by more than 100 Jews and produced by an American-Israeli man in the US. The film has been widely condemned across the globe including Iran, Afghanistan, Egypt, Libya, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Yemen, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan, Morocco, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc.