IRNA - Iran supports developing a common regional strategy to counter terrorism and enhance cooperation among regional states, Iran's Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the UN Gholamali Khoshroo said on Friday.


'By having such a common strategy, the countries of the region could effectively stop the movement of foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs) and their infiltration into the regional countries,' Khoshroo said in his address at the High-Level Conference of the Heads of Agencies Combating terrorism titled 'Combating the evolving threats from Foreign Terrorist Fighters (FTFs)'.

Relevant UN reports indicate that over 25,000 Foreign Terrorist Fighters had gone to Syria from over 100 Member States, he said, adding that this figure demonstrates that the threats related to the FTFs is complicated and multi-faceted and needs urgent attention of the international community.

Khoshroo said 'As our world recognizes no borders, all parts of the world are being more or less threatened by this spreading scourge.'

'In Analyzing the root causes of joining of individuals to FTFs, while we agree that such factors as dictatorship, poverty, corruption and discrimination could serve as a contributing factors under certain circumstances, abundant experience and facts clearly show that only a destructive ideology could turn an otherwise peaceful human into a destructive being.

'This dark extremist ideology cannot be eliminated only through military, political or economic means. Any effective strategy against FTFs must entail in the first place a major cultural and ideological component.

'It is essential that the Member States strengthen their cooperation at the international , regional, sub-regional and bilateral levels including through enhanced operational and timely information sharing,' the Iranian UN envoy said.

Saying that Iran is a victim of terrorism including operations conducted and sponsored by the Taliban, Al-Qaida, MKO and ISIS, the Iranian envoy said over the past four decades around 17,000 Iranian citizens have been affected by terrorist attacks.

'The measures adopted by my Government in response to the relevant Security Council and GA resolutions have been reported to the CTED and the CTC. We have augmented and intensified the practical arrangements to ensure, among other things, the safety and security of civil aviation, increased security at borders with a view to preventing the entry of terrorists, including FTFs, into our territory and enhanced anti-laundering mechanisms in the banking systems,' he said.

Moreover, the national strategy for countering terrorist acts was adopted in 2013 by the Supreme National Security Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Iranian UN envoy reiterated.

Furthermore, Khoshroo said, Iran has strong working relations and cooperation with Interpol in the area of exchange of information such as terrorist movement.