London Bridge attack is ‘wake-up call’ to stop supporting terrorism – Iran
The recent attack in London should serve as a “wake-up call” for the international community to start taking an “honest and responsible" approach to terrorism and root out the “financial and ideological sources of violence,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry said.
Iran has condemned the London terrorist attack, which left seven dead and at least 48 injured on Saturday night, adding that the recent surge in terrorism worldwide should serve as a “wake-up call” for the international community.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi called on certain states to stop “pursuing their short-term political and economic goals, which seem to be strategic, in favor of security for their citizens as well as the entire world.”
“To uproot terror, it is necessary that they [those states] address the root causes as well as main financial and ideological sources of extremism and violence, which are clear to everyone,” Press TV quoted the spokesman as saying.
The sole way to end global terrorism, according to Qassemi, is “to play an honest and responsible part in the global wave against terrorism and extremism free from any double standard.”
The terrorist attack was carried out on Saturday night when a van rammed into pedestrians on London Bridge. The car attack was followed by three assailants running to nearby Borough Market where they went on a stabbing rampage in crowded cafes and restaurants in the area.
The three attackers were later killed by the police. British police “are confident about the fact that they were radical Islamist terrorists,” according to Interior Minister Amber Rudd, who added that “we need to find out more about where this radicalization came from.”
The UK has seen a surge in terrorist activity over the past few months. The pattern of the Saturday night rampage appears to be similar to the March 22 Westminster attack, when an assailant ran over pedestrians on the bridge and then fatally stabbed a police officer before being shot himself. Five people were killed and 49 were injured during that incident.
A larger scale attack occurred less than two weeks ago on May 22, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the Manchester Arena shortly after a pop concert, killing 22 and injuring over 100 concert-goers, mostly teenagers. British police responded to the surge in violence with large scale counterterrorism operations, searching multiple properties and arresting several suspects across the country.
