TEHRAN, May 30 (MNA) – Saying that as many as 17,000 people in Iran have been killed in terrorist atatcks, Secretary of Iran's High Council for Human Rights said that no country has fallen victim to terrorism like Iran.

Kazem Gharibabadi made the remarks at a weekly meeting of American human rights records in Tehran on Tuesday where he also said, "Wherever there are footprints of terrorist groups, American support is seen."

"When Iran mobilized its facilities and forces under the command of Lt. General Soleimani to fight against terrorists, the Americans launched a front to defend terrorism whose main goal was to save terrorism," he said. 

Referring to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the killing of many innocent people in those countries during the American aggression, Gharibabadi said, "About 500,000 children died only as a result of the American sanctions against Iraq. America is also directly responsible for the crimes committed by the Zionist regime against Palestine."

According to Gharibabadi, the US is not entitled to talk about human rights, adding that the people of Iran have realized the violation of human rights directly as a result of the actions of the United States.

"The United States' human rights crimes in the areas of sanctions against the people of Iran and other countries, as well as the role of this country in terrorism, should be investigated and touched upon on more," the Iranian official pointed out. 

"No country has been a victim of terrorism like Iran; the number of victims of terrorism in Iran is more than 17,000 people," he noted. 

Ghribabadi further added that although the MKO was removed from the list of terrorist groups due to the political decisions of the United States and Western countries, it is still engaged in terrorist activities.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Gharibabadi referred to the violation of human rights in the United States and added, "In that country, the rights of blacks people, people of color, women, children and prisoners are violated in various fields."

According to him the US also has the largest number of inmates in the world, which reaches more than 2.5 million people, and has the highest death rate of prisoners.

SKH/IRN85126906