Iran dismisses U.S. terrorism accusation

 The Iranian Foreign Ministry has dismissed the U.S. report on global terrorism which has accused Tehran of sponsoring terrorism.

“Iran has been a main victim of terrorism over the past three decades, and accusing the country (Iran) of sponsoring terrorism is the distortion of the truth,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on Thursday.

In its annual global terrorism report on Wednesday, the U.S. State Department put Iran on its list of “state sponsors of terrorism,” leveling a number of accusations against the country, such as supporting Palestinian resistance groups, boosting its presence in Africa, and trying to smuggle weapons to separatists in Yemen and Bahrain.

Afkham said that the United States’ report is based on “double standards and a politically-motivated approach.” 

“The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns this approach and considers this a threat to the global peace and security,” she noted.

“The presence and free activities of terrorists (members of Mojahein Khalq Organization) in the United States who have martyred more than 15,000 Iranian citizens and senior officials, the use of drones to kill innocent people in the region, and turning a blind eye to the atrocious acts of the Zionists against the Palestinian people” are “seriously” in contrast to “the claims of the U.S. in the fight against terrorism,” she explained.