Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has blamed the rise of violent extremism on what he called “certain states” and on unidentified “intelligence agencies” which, he said, have put “blades in the hands of madmen.”
He did not elaborate during his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“The strategic mistakes of the West regarding the issues of the Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus regions has turned this part of the world into a paradise for terrorists and radicals,” said Rouhani.
“Military intervention in Afghanistan and Iraq and wrong interventions in the Syrian developments, show that this strategy in the Middle East region was wrong,” Rouhani continued.
He said the right solution lies not from outside but from within the region with international support.
“Democracy is the result of growth and development and not the result of war and aggression. Democracy is not an exportable good to be sent from the West to the East,” Rouhani added.
Earlier, Rouhani said the instability in Iraq and Syria is a direct result of the US invasion of Iraq eleven years ago.
After a meeting the Iranian leader, British Prime Minister David Cameron said that Iran’s leader could help in defeating the threat from ISIL.
euronews correspondent Stefan Grobe reported from New York: “President Rouhani delivered his diplomatic standard speech basically blaming the West for the dire straits the Middle East is in. But he did not mention America and Britain by name, which leaves a little hope that better relations are ahead.”
