TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran's President Hassan Rouhani condemned extremism and terrorism as common enemies of Islam and Christianity."We see extremism and terrorism as the common foes (of both Islam and Christianity), in the meantime, we consider the gap between a part of the human society and the Almighty God and spirituality as common challenges for both of these religions," President Rouhani said in a meeting with Vaticans new Ambassador to Tehran Leo Boccardi.
The Iranian president further pointed to the problems in the regional countries, including Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, and said whenever problems emerge in such countries, the followers of "all religions suffer from those difficulties and pains".
"We need to have a deeper knowledge of each other's beliefs and cultures, because nowadays, most of the gaps and enmities are rooted in unfamiliarity and lack of knowledge about each other's cultures," said Rouhani, stressing the need for widening dialogue between Islam and Christianity.
President Rouhani praised the close relationship between the Christian community residing in Iran and the Muslim community, and said, "There have always been friendly relations between them (Christians) and Muslims."
In relevant remarks in late October, Iran's First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri laid emphasis on the negative impacts of extremist thoughts for the entire Muslim world, and called for Muslims' vigilance against such deviations.
Late in September, member of the Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Abbasali Mansouri voiced concern about the growing trend of extremism in the region, and called on the regional nations to be aware of the enemies' divisive plots aimed at creating rift among Muslims.
Early in June, Representative of the Iranian Assyrians and Chaldeans at the parliament Yonatan Betkelia ruled out pressure or discrimination against religious minorities in Iran, and stressed that freedom of speech in its true sense is prevalent in Iran.
By Fars News Agency
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