“People who engage in acts of terrorism … have nothing to do with Islam,” said Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif during a Sunday-aired interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on GPS.
Zarif would not describe the Islamic State (ISIS) as connected to Islam or Muslims:
“We know where the terrorists are coming from. We know those who attacked the World Trade Center were citizens of which countries in the region — I can tell you that none of them came from Iran. None of the people who engaged in acts of terrorism since 2001 came from Iran; most of them came from U.S. allies.
I believe the ideology that is being spread by, unfortunately by our neighbors in Saudi Arabia — througout the world is responsible for hatred, for extremism, and for fanaticism that is bring such a dark page of people who having nothing to do with Islam into our region, and even beyond our region. Look at ISIS, look at al-Nusra, look at al-Qaeda, look at other terrorist organizations — none of them have anything to do with Iran. All of them receive not only their ideology but their financial assistance, their weapons, their arms from others who call themselves U.S. allies.”
Watch Zarif’s comments below.
Zakaria did not challenge Zarif’s claims. He neglected to note the Iranian government’s material and political support for Islamic terrorism across the Middle East, North Africa and beyond; no mention was made of Hezbollah (who Zakaria was previously extolled), Hamas, or governments in failed Muslim-majority states such as Syria.
CNN’s chyrons were sterile, a departure from the network’s approach to President Donald Trump and his administration:
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Zakaria presents himself as a politically objective and non-partisan news media figure. CNN likewise markets itself as politically objective and non-partisan in its conduct, billing itself as “The Most Trusted Name In News.”
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