TEHRAN: A handout picture provided by the office of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani shows a general view of the 29th International Islamic Conference. — AFP

TEHRAN: Iran's President Hassan Rouhani yesterday said that Muslim countries should strive to improve the world's opinion of Islam. "We must remove Islam's negative image from today's cyber and real space," he said in Tehran at an international conference on "The Islamic World's Current Crisis".

Most "violence, terror and massacres, unfortunately, take place in the Islamic world," he said. "I invite all Islamic countries in this region and beyond-even those who until today have bombed and launched missiles on their neighbors-for all of us to stop this and choose the right path," he said. He did not give any country names.

Shiite Iran supports Yemen's Houthi rebels, while its Sunni-ruled regional rival Saudi Arabia leads a military coalition that has been bombing them in support of the loyalists since March. "How many bombs and missiles have you purchased from America this year?" he asked. "If you had distributed the money for those bombs and missiles among poor Muslims, nobody would be going to bed hungry."

Tehran also backs the Syrian regime, whose army is fighting rebels and jihadists, including the Islamic State group that has taken over large swathes of the country and neighboring Iraq. "If some groups like Daesh can recruit soldiers, the reason is financial and cultural poverty," Rouhani said, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

Both types of poverty should be eliminated from "Islamic society", he said. "Terrorism will not be destroyed by bombs." "For years and years, we have talked of unity. Is unity possible without economic connections within the Islamic world," he asked. The Syria and Iraq conflicts only benefit Israel and "those who are against Muslims", he said.

US visa rules

In other news, a top Iranian parliamentary official has written to his counterparts in Europe, China and Russia calling on them to oppose "discriminatory" new US visa regulations. A bill passed by Congress this month bars citizens from 38 mainly European countries from travelling to the United States without a visa if they have previously visited Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan since 2011.

It also requires a visa for citizens of those countries if they are dual nationals of any of the four target nations. Tehran says the new regulations fly in the face of its landmark nuclear deal struck with major powers, including the United States, in July. In the letter to his counterparts in the European parliament, France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China, the chairman of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, Alaedin Boroujerdi, described the law as "unfair and discriminatory".

"I would like to urge you to make every effort to oppose this decision by the US administration," he said, quoted by the ISNA news agency, describing it as a "destructive blow" to the nuclear agreement. The president of the French Senate, Gerard Larcher, criticized the new US rules on a visit to Tehran last week, saying they sent the "wrong signal" and undermined efforts to build confidence with Iran.

The move reflects calls by US lawmakers and authorities to reduce security vulnerabilities after the deadly strikes last month in Paris, where some of the attackers were French and Belgians who could have travelled unrestricted to the United States to carry out attacks. Those affected will not be barred from the United States, but will be required to obtain a visa through standard means, which includes a face-to-face interview at a US consulate. - AFP