TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Friday condemned terrorist attacks on two mosques in New Zealand as “brutal” and “inhuman”.

“Any terrorist action, at any place, by anybody and under any pretext and motivation must be condemned by all countries. The governments should not let racist and anti-Islamic ideologies and movements endanger the countries,” he said.

He urged New Zealand to find perpetrators behind the attacks.

Coordinated attacks on two mosques in New Zealand on Friday left at least 49 people killed and many others wounded.

Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern described the incident as “an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence.”

Officials said that one man in his late 20s, who is in police custody, had been charged with murder, and that two explosive devices were found attached to a vehicle that they had stopped.

Zarif: ‘Western hypocrisy of defending demonization of Muslims as freedom of expression must end’

Following the attacks, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also said the West must end its “hypocrisy” of demonizing Muslims under the pretext of defending freedom of expression.

“Western hypocrisy of defending demonization of Muslims as freedom of expression MUST end,” Zarif wrote on his tweeter account.

Zarif also said, “Impunity in Western ‘democracies’ to promote bigotry leads to this: 
-Israeli thugs enter mosque in Palestine to insult Muslims; 
-Terrorists in NZ livestream their murder of 49 Muslims.” 

According to al Jazeera, the Australian-born attacker on worshippers in Christchurch has published a manifesto citing U.S. President Donald Trump and Anders Breivik, the Norwegian white supremacist who murdered 77 people in Norway in 2011.

The 74-page dossier by the shooter, which has been described by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison as a "work of hate", praised Trump as "a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose".

He also claimed that he had "brief contact" with Breivik and had received a "blessing" for his actions from the mass murderer's acquaintances.

NA/PA