Iranian President Raps New Zealand Mosque Attack

In a statement on Friday night, Rouhani slammed the terrorist and racially-motivated attack on worshippers at the New Zealand mosques as a heinous and tragic measure that saddened the Iranian nation.

He said the barbaric attack that killed and injured innocent worshippers was another stark reminder of the need for collective action against terrorism, hate campaigns targeting religious and sectarian groups, and the prevailing Islamophobia in the West that is unfortunately being promoted by certain Western governments.

Rouhani also said the “unprofessional and inhumane” coverage of the terror attack by some Western news media revealed the Western racism and its double standards about lives of people.

Stressing the need for Muslim nations to show serious reaction to the anti-human crime, the president reaffirmed Iran’s commitment to fighting against terrorism and racism.

He went on to say that Iran’s Foreign Ministry will pursue measures about the abhorrent attack and would keep calling for the arrest of the organizers and perpetrators of the shooting at the international level.  

At least one gunman killed 49 people and wounded more than 40 during Friday prayers at two New Zealand mosques in the country’s worst ever mass shooting, which Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern condemned as terrorism.

A gunman broadcast livestream footage on Facebook of the attack on one mosque in the city of Christchurch, mirroring the carnage played out in video games, after publishing a “manifesto” in which he denounced immigrants, calling them “invaders”.

New Zealand was placed on its highest security threat level, Ardern said, adding that “this can now only be described as a terrorist attack”.

Police said three people were in custody including one man in his late 20s who had been charged with murder.

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