Iranian intelligence minister calls for global alliance against Takfiri groups

Iran's Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi stressed the necessity for the creation of a global coalition against the threat of Takfiri and Salafi terrorist groups. “The world has come to realize that a global movement need to be started to confront Takfiri terrorism in a bid to fight against this ominous, inhuman and anti-Islamic phenomena,” Alavi told reporters on Sunday. He reiterated that the westerners made a mistake by supporting the Takfiri groups on the wrong assumption that the terrorism of Takfiri groups would only threaten Iran’s interests, and they have now come to realize that these groups will eventually turn against them and strike their own interests. In October, Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, a senior Iranian religious leader, deplored the massacre of innocent people by Takfiri terrorists in the Muslim states, particularly in crisis-hit Syria. “Unfortunately the… murder of Muslims… and the flames raging in Muslim countries are due to the presence of these Takfiri currents,” Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi said. The cleric described the extremists as a tool in the hands of colonial powers that save them the trouble of direct military intervention in Muslim countries. “When the enemies find Islam against their illegitimate interests, they pitch Muslims against each other through these Takfiri groups to undermine and uproot Islam,” he stated. The cleric further called on all Muslim leaders to join hands to shed light on the nature of Takfiri extremism and inform the public that the militants are a small population with an incorrect interpretation of the Holy Quran.