Extremism 'is hurting Muslims in the region'

Iranian Vice President Mohammed Ali Abtahi said yesterday extremism largely fuelled by US policies has damaged the interests of Muslims in the region.

"The phenomenon of religious extremism is one of the most serious challenges facing the region. It is a direct reaction to US policies and behaviour in this region," Abtahi said in a speech in Abu Dhabi.

"But at the same time, it has fundamentally damaged and inflicted losses on Muslims in this region," he said in the address, delivered at a conference on 'The Gulf: Challenges of the Future', organised by Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research.

Abtahi said US military intervention in the region and its backing for Israel in its confrontation with Palestinians has pushed many Muslims to extremism.

The US policy on Palestine, Abtahi told the gathering, has piled heavy psychological and moral pressure on Arab nations while the state of terrorism has led to instability in the Gulf region.

"We expect the current circumstances, if continued, to rob the region of its collective security formula," he said, warning that more foreign interventions, in the absence of what he called a regional alliance, would increase the scale and amount of challenges at national and regional domains.