KABUL: (Middle East Press) Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khameneni made the remarks in a meeting with visiting Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow.
“To counter barbarism and harsh terrorism of Daesh and similar takfiri groups, who commit crimes under the name of Islam, people should be given opportunity to practice proper Islamic activities, and the best way to foil these [terrorist] movements is to strengthen moderate and rational Islamic thoughts,” the Leader noted.
The Leader said “savage crimes” such as slitting throats and burning people alive prove that these people are completely “alien” to Islam.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the Leader described Iran and Turkmenistan as two neighbors with “familial” ties which need to tap their great potential to expand cooperation.
For his part, Berdimuhamedow said that Iran and Turkmenistan enjoy historic and good relations.
The president also praised Ayatollah Khameneni, calling him a talented and thoughtful leader whose recommendations have brought about good results for Turkmenistan.
“Your statements, as an intelligent leader and thoughtful man, are greatly valuable to us and acting to your recommendations has led to very good results,” Berdimuhamedow pointed out.
He said that there are potential in Turkmenistan and Iran to expand ties in gas and oil industry.
The Leader also met Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday in the Iranian capital, Tehran, where Buhari is to take part in the third summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF).
“International coalitions claiming to fight terrorist currents are by no means trustworthy, since the very destructive elements such as the US are behind the scenes of creating or supporting terrorists like Daesh,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
The Leader said “Islam’s open enemies” and “foes that bear enmity with Islam in the name of Islam” are the “two blades of the same scissors.”
Ayatollah Khamenei welcomed the election of Buhari, “a committed Muslim,” as the president of Nigeria and called for the identification and exploitation of the capacities for interaction and cooperation between Iran and Nigeria.
The Nigerian president, for his part, described the relations between Iran and Nigeria as solid and long-lasting, saying, “Iran is a major and advanced country and enjoys many capacities for cooperation.”
The Leader separately met with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday.
During the meeting with Maduro, Ayatollah Khamenei said said resistance is the sole way for independent countries to progress.
“Today, the policies of [global] arrogance have afflicted humanity like a blight; and the sole way for progress and victory by independent countries is ‘resistance’ and ‘relying on masses of people’ in the ‘war of wills,” Ayatollah Khamenei said.
The Leader pointed to the United States’ policies toward Latin America, and noted that the US used to regard the region as its “backyard;” however, Venezuela managed to turn the region into an independent one and one with an identity of its own.
Maduro said Iran and Venezuela are true friends.
He said imperialist countries seek to destroy the independence of other states by stoking unrest and attempting to humiliate them and their identities.
