The Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani made the comments during the closing ceremony of the 2nd conference of parliament speakers of Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, China and Russia on the challenges of terrorism, which was held in Tehran on Saturday.
“Over the last three decades, we have witnessed the largest number of wars and the biggest presence of terrorist groups in Asia as it can be seen in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan,” Larijani noted.
He blamed the foreign countries beyond the region for the rise of terrorist groups in Asia, stating that the United States and some other countries are backing terrorism in Asia to undermine the continent’s capabilities.
The Iranian top legislator went on to hail China’s achievements in economic areas as well as Russia’s positive role in creating security in the region.
“Pakistan also has a great deal of human resources, and other countries such as Iran, Turkey, China and Afghanistan have significant potentials that have grabbed the West’s attention,” he added.
He added that the West is concerned about Asia’s increasing power and seeks to curtail its leap forward through creating and fostering terrorist groups.
Also with regard to the topic discussed in the conference, Larijani said that “the Turkish side argued that terrorism was a tool at the hands of the imperialists, and the speaker of the Chinese parliament spoke against unilateralism.”
The Iranian parliament speaker further said that the chairman of the Russian State Duma emphasized the need for an effective parliamentary dialogue in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, concluding that the Tehran summit was successful and the next meeting will be held in Turkey.
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