Zarif: Leader’s Letters to Western Youth Point to Post-West Era
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei’s letters to Western youth were in step with facts in international relations, including the fact that momentous developments are no more being shaped in the West, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.
Addressing the “Dawn of Truth” conference in Tehran, held to mark the anniversary of Ayatollah Khamenei’s second letter to the Western youth in 2015, Zarif said parts of the letter point to the realities of the modern world and the post-West era.
Highlighting a part of the letter that asks how those born, grown up and educated in Western countries could behead civilians in Syria and Iraq, he said it is a testimony to a political fact, that is, momentous developments in international relations are not being shaped in or by the West anymore.
In a letter to youths of Europe and North America on January 21, 2015, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “One has to ask why people who are born in Europe and who have been intellectually and mentally nurtured in that environment are attracted to such (terrorist) groups.”
“Can we really believe that people with only one or two trips to war zones, suddenly become so extreme that they can riddle the bodies of their compatriots with bullets?” the Leader had said of terrorist attacks carried out by extremists returning from Syria and Iraq.
Elsewhere in his comments, the Iranian top diplomat highlighted the “diversification of sources of power” in the contemporary era.
The moral aspects of Iran’s power were brought to light by its leading role in the war against the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group, he added, saying such measures could greatly affect a state’s position in the international arena.
Zarif also noted that the West began to pursue the policy of fomenting Islamophobia and Iranophobia following the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Imam Khamenei first wrote a letter to youths in Europe and North America on January 21, 2015, to elaborate on the reasons behind the West’s effort to spread Islamophobia.
Later on November 29, 2015, Ayatollah Khamenei sent the second letter following a series of terrorist attacks in France, elaborating on the real factors behind terrorism and asking the young people to “lay the foundation for an appropriate and honorable interaction with the Muslim world based on correct knowledge and with deep insight and by taking lessons from tragic experiences (of the past)”.
