Terrorism is not Islam: Iran

Iran's envoy to the UN has slammed all forms of terrorism and said that terrorist groups have nothing to do with Islam.

While addressing a UN General Assembly session Sunday, Hossein Dehqani said terrorist groups, including Al Qaeda, Boko Haram and Nusra Front, have no links with Islam, Press TV reported Monday.

Dehqani said several countries created these terrorist groups to maintain their interests across the globe, adding that these groups have now turned into "monsters" who are threatening even their own creators.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, as a country which had always been the target of terrorist attacks, condemned the ominous phenomenon of terrorism in all its forms, including state terrorism," he said.

Dehqani stressed that the first step in countering terrorist groups is to cut the flow of financial aid to terrorists groups.

He also called on the UN to establish an anti-terrorism international convention.

The Iranian envoy also dismissed as baseless Israel's claims about Iran's support for terrorist groups in the region.

"These accusations are levelled against Iran by a regime that has a long history of using state terrorism to advance its political objectives, and this very regime had been created by terrorist groups," he said.