TEHRAN – Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said on Monday that serious campaign against terrorism entails attention to the cultural roots of this phenomenon.

Larijani made the remarks on Monday during a meeting with Premysl Sobotka, vice president of the senate of the Czech Republic.

Larijani also pointed to the failure of the recent Lausanne conference on the Syrian conflict, saying the Islamic Republic has always insisted that the Syrian crisis should be resolved through dialogue.

“However, the world powers and their regional allies do not believe that the Syrian conflict can be resolved through dialogue. That’s one of the main reasons why the Lausanne talks and previous attempts to resolve the crisis failed to bear fruit,” the Majlis speaker said.

Larijani further said, “Any attempt to overthrow the democratically elected government of Syria would lead to chaos and rise of terrorist groups inside the country.”

He added that the fate of the country must be decided by its people.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Larijani underlined the Iranian parliament is willing to expand parliamentary ties with the Czech Republic, saying that an Iranian-Czech friendship group has been formed in the Majlis.

Sobotka, for his part, slammed the media propaganda against the Islamic Republic, saying that the media do not reflect the true face of Iran.

The senior Czech official underscored the necessity of direct flights between Tehran and Prague. He added such moves would have great impact on strengthening ties between the two countries.

Sobotka also described terrorism as the biggest threat that the entire world is facing, and attributed the terrorism crisis in the Middle East and Europe to interventions by foreign countries.

“Combating terrorism could be one of the areas in which the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Czech Republic could cooperate,” he added.

MH/PA