Iran to Use All Diplomatic Capacities to Prevent Continued Massacre of Muslims in Myanmar

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has always shown that it defends the world’s innocent and suppressed people, and the president (Hassan Rouhani) tried during his visit to Kazakhstan (for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation summit) to make other countries sensitive in this regard,” Nobakht told reporters in Tehran on Tuesday.

“We will use all our diplomatic capacities in this regard,” he added.

Nobakht also lambasted the international bodies for not showing a proper reaction to the human catastrophe in Myanmar.

His remarks came after Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei strongly blasted the international bodies and those who claim to be advocates of human rights for silence on the plights and pains of Muslims in Myanmar, and called on the Islamic countries to adopt practical measures against the Myanmar government.

“Of course, religious prejudice may play a role in this incident but it is a political issue because it is executed by the Myanmar government which is headed by a cruel woman who has won the Nobel prize, and actually the Nobel Peace Prize died with such incidents,” Ayatollah Khamenei said on Tuesday.

He lashed out at the UN secretary-general who has only sufficed to the condemnation of the crimes in Myanmar, and said, “Those who claim to be advocates of human rights and start hues and cries sometimes for punishment of a guilty person in Iran, don’t show any reaction to the massacre and displacement of tens of thousands of people in Myanmar.”

Ayatollah Khamenei underlined the need for the Islamic governments’ action and practical measures, and said, “Of course, practical action doesn’t mean deployment of military forces but they should increase political, economic and trade pressures on Myanmar government and shout against such crimes in the international circles.”

The Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar have long been subjected to discrimination in Buddhist-majority country, which denies them citizenship.

Myanmar’s government regards them as illegal migrants from Bangladesh, even if they have lived in the country for generations.

Refugee camps near Bangladesh’s border with Myanmar already had about 300,000 Rohingya before the upsurge in violence last month and are now overwhelmed.

Tens of thousands of new arrivals have nowhere to shelter from monsoon rains.

Those flocking into Bangladesh have given harrowing accounts of killings, rape and arson by Myanmar’s army. Myanmar authorities deny any wrongdoing.

Most have walked for days and the UN says many are sick, exhausted and in desperate need of shelter.