Rafsanjani: Boko-Haram, ISIL Created by Zionists

(FNA)- Chairman of Iran's Expediency Council Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani underlined that the Takfiri terrorist groups, including Boko-Haram and the ISIL, have been formed and are supported by the Zionist regime.

"Deviating streams like the Taliban, al-Qaeda, Boko-Haram and the ISIL have been formed through the aid and support of certain countries, specially Quds Occupying regime," Rafsanjani said in Tehran on Sunday.

He further demanded religious intellectuals to take the lead and familiarize the younger generation with genuine Islam, "otherwise, extremist groups will attract the youth and fill their minds with superstitions and wrong beliefs".

In relevant remarks in December, Iranian Supreme Leader's senior adviser Ali Akbar Velayati underlined that the ISIL had been created by the West and Israel to pursue their interests in the region.

"The ISIL has actually been created by the western colonial powers and the Zionists because whatever this terrorist group does runs counter to Islam and the rules of all Islamic sects," Velayati said.

He said the Israeli regime could use the destruction of Muslim holy sites by ISIL as a justification for the destruction of the Al-Aqsa mosque.

Also in December, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei described the ISIL terrorist group as just a branch of the Takfiri stream which had troubled the region, and said ISIL was serving the US and Israel's interests.

Addressing the political and religious figures participating in the 'International Congress on Takfiri Streams in the Eyes of the Islamic Ulema' in Tehran, Ayatollah Khamenei described the Takfiri stream as a problem imposed by the arrogant powers on the region in line with the US and Israel's interests, and said the Takfiri stream should be considered as a phenomenon beyond the ISIL as the terrorist group was only a branch of the Takfiri stream.

"The Takfiri stream and the governments which support it completely move in line with the goals of the arrogant powers, meaning the US, the hegemonic European governments and the Zionist regime, and are practically at their service under an Islamic disguise," he added.

Ayatollah Khamenei said diverting the Islamic Awakening was one of the goals pursued by the arrogant powers by supporting the Takfiri streams, and said, "The forefront of Muslims' struggle in the region was focused on the occupied Palestine but the Takfiri stream changed this frontline and moved it into the streets and cities of Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Libya and this is one of the Takfiri stream's crimes which cannot be forgotten."

He underlined that another instance for showing that the Takfiri stream was serving the US, Britain and the Zionist regime was that its supporters didn’t even showed a minimum opposition to the Zionist regime and even collaborated with the regime in fighting the Muslims.

The Supreme Leader described destruction of the Muslim states' infrastructures as another instance of the Takfiri stream's services to the enemies of Islam, and said the stream also took the world attention off the 51-day Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, leaving the Palestinian resistance groups and people alone in their defense against the Zionists' aggression.

He stressed that the so-called US-led anti-ISIL coalition was nothing but a lie, and said the US airdrops of military equipment and weapons for the ISIL displayed much of the truth.

He also underscored the Muslim Ulema's responsibilities in the current situation, and said they should form a scientific, logical and pervasive campaign to uproot the Takfiri stream.