A presidential aide said the Islamic Republic is the “standard-bearer” of the campaign against extremism in the region.
Ali Younesi, President Hassan Rouhani’s special aide on ethnic groups and religious minorities, made the remarks in a meeting with reformists in Qazvin Province on Sunday, IRNA reported.
“Religious extremism is rooted in disregarding freedom and rationality,” he said, adding, “If due attention is not paid to each of these two notions, we will witness emergence of deviation.”
He added that the formation of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group was also the result of “disregard for rationality.”
Elsewhere, the senior official advised political groups to take account of national interests in their activities, saying in the 2013 presidential election, reformists backed Rouhani despite their differences with him because they took national interests into consideration.
