Iran isn’t worst sponsor of terror

Re: Why Harper was right to speak out on Iran, July 7.

There is exactly one sentence that I object to in the otherwise excellent opinion piece by David Kilgour, but it is an important one: “The Iranian regime has earned the title of the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism.” This statement is wrong and diverts attention from the true forces that inspire terrorism the way Canada, but also the U.S., Europe and other countries such as India, Bangladesh and Indonesia, have experienced it over the years. Iran had nothing to do with the murderous attacks that targeted civilians in these countries.

Shia Islam, the brand represented by Iran, has also mourned many victims of terror attacks in unprovoked bombings of their religious shrines, just like those killed during 9/11, as well as in the attacks against civilian targets in Paris, London, Madrid, Brussels, Mumbai, Dacca, et cetera. Without exception, the terrorists in all these cases were adherents of a particularly vicious interpretation of Islamic religious doctrine propagated by some Sunni preachers. These, in turn, relied on state institutions that, at the very least, were financing them, as with Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, or even sponsored them directly, as with Pakistan. Recall also that Iran and its allied Hezbollah militia helped eliminate the terrorist mini-states of ISIL and al-Qaida in Iraq and Syria.

I fully share with Kilgour the revulsion that he feels for the murderous regime of the Iranian Ayatollahs and the way they treat their own people. Still, there is a sizable Christian minority in Iran that has been left unmolested, and there are even remnants of the once numerous Iranian Jewish community. This should be contrasted with Saudi Arabia, where the practice of all other religions but Islam is prohibited by law, and with Pakistan, where Christian churches are routinely attacked by terrorists in every major festival. The hypocrisy of countries condemning Iran as a sponsor of terrorism while simultaneously selling weapons to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan needs no further comment.

Stylianos Perrakis,

RBC distinguished professor, John Molson School of Business, Concordia University, Montreal