The permanent ambassador to the United Nations said terrorist groups do not represent true Islam and they have been established to promote "Islamophobia" and undermine Islam.
"The financial, political and cultural centers of … hate-mongering and takfiri ideologies (which are) allied to the centers of might and money in certain corners of West… use global media to target Islam and try to depict it as biggest threat," Gholamali Khoshroo said, according to the website of the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nation.
"Neither these ideologies, nor global terrorists nor fear-mongering media represent Islam. They, all, lie at the core of Islamophobia and the acts that target the Muslims."
He made the remarks in an address to a UN Security Council meeting on "The Role of the Youth in Combating Violent Extremism and Promoting Peace" on Thursday.
He elaborated on the term "mental walls" that the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei used in his recent message to the youth in Europe.
The message said, "Today, modern communication technology has blurred geographical boundaries, you (the young) must not allow yourselves to be confined within fabricated mental walls."
"(These walls) have their foundations in destructive ideologies, which have two attributes," Khoshroo said, explaining, "(First,) they are tainted with ignorance, superficiality and fanatic outlooks (and second,) they are also violence-oriented and based on terror and takfir, i.e., considering 'others' or those who are different as apostates."
Criticizing the centers promoting such ideologies, aimed at further expansion of "violence", he said, "Centers that propagate these ideologies, falsely under the name of Islam, and spend billions of dollars to spread them through satellite TV and social and traditional media are fueling the spread of ignorance and violence. They specifically prey on the youth and link them to their networks of extremism and terrorism."
