“The flames of violence and extremism are flaring across the Muslim world, and ignorance and extremism have cleared the way for the realization of the longtime plot of the enemies of Islam in sowing discord and causing sectarian and tribal strife,” President Rouhani said in a message on Friday.
His message was addressed to Muslim heads of state and governments in the run-up to the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which starts in Islamic countries on Saturday or Sunday.
President Rouhani also called on leaders of Muslim nations to close ranks against violence and extremism in the world.
“It is necessary for the Muslim world to be once more the standard-bearer of combating violence and extremism and the harbinger of peace in the world,” the Iranian president added.
On Friday, Tehran’s provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ahmad Khatami underlined that the US and Israel have created and supported the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) to sow discord among Muslims.
Addressing a large and fervent congregation of the people on Tehran University campus on Friday, Ayatollah Khatami said, "The US and Israel are supporting the ISIL with the purpose of disintegrating Iraq and create differences among Muslims."
In similar remarks last week, another provisional Friday Prayers Leader of Tehran, Kazzem Seddiqi said the recent attacks by the ISIL in Iraq are a new plot by the West, specially US, to distract the international community's attention from Israel's atrocities in the Middle East.
