Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the United States and its European allies joined hands to "bring the Islamic Republic to its knees" over the nuclear issue, but they failed and will never succeed in achieving such an objective.
The Leader also referred to the violent acts of the self-declared Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria and said takfiris serve the objectives of the hegemonistic powers, IRNA reported.
"The takfiri current and governments behind it are serving imperialistic objectives of the US, colonial European states and the Zionist regime in the name of Islam."
Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks on Tuesday in a meeting with scholars and thinkers attending the World Congress on Extremist and Takfiri Movements in the Islamic Scholars’ View, which was held in the Iranian holy city of Qom on Sunday and Monday.
A takfiri is a Muslim who accuses another Muslim of being an unbeliever and thus legitimate target of holy war. IS militants and similar groups are referred to as takfiris. They claim to represent and protect the rights of Sunni Muslims against other Muslims; however, Iraqi officials say Sunni Muslims in Iraq have suffered the most from the crimes committed by this group. The Leader said the so-called coalition against IS, which is led by the US, is a “mere lie,” adding that Washington actually “seeks to keep this scourge alive, which of course it won’t be able to.”
In August, the US and its allies agreed to launch airstrikes against IS militants in Iraq and later extended the aerial bombardment to Syria as part of the US-led campaign. Iran has refused to be part of the coalition since it accuses the US and its other members, including some regional countries, of adopting double standards. Elsewhere in his remarks, Ayatollah Khamenei reaffirmed Iran’s support for the Palestinians in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied territories, adding the Palestinians in the occupied West Bank should be armed to defend their land, just like their peers in Gaza.
“We are not entangled in religious divisions, and we will provide Hamas and the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine with the same assistance we offered to Shiite Hezbollah in Lebanon,” the Leader noted.
The Leader also called on Muslim scholars to help root out the takfiri current, which has diverted the Muslim world’s attention from the Israeli regime’s atrocities against the Palestinians.