Sixth Xiangshan Forum
© AP Photo/ Ng Han Guan
Iran's deputy defense minister calls for the creation of an anti-terror coalition in Asia.

The fear of increased terrorism across the Asian continent calls for the creation of a broad "great Asian coalition," Iran's deputy defense minister said Monday.

"Terrorism has created a lot of challenges on the international stage, and its promoters are making every effort to spread extremism, violence, chaos and insecurity across the world, particularly in the Asian continent," Brig. Gen. Nasrollah Kalantari said as quoted by the ISNA outlet.

Speaking at the Sixth Xiangshan Forum in Beijing, the Iranian official questioned the motives of a US-led coalition in Syria and Iraq, calling the year-long efforts in the two countries to root out the Islamic State jihadist group a "charade."

"The US and its allies in the region and the world, which themselves, both overtly and covertly, set the stage to breed terrorism, have no right to claim to be fighting it," he stressed.

Kalantari cited the recent escalations in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict, that had led to the deaths of up to eight Israelis and 45 Palestinians in knife, gun and car attacks over the past weeks, in support of his assertion.

The Xiangshan Forum in the Chinese capital gathers defense officials in the Asia-Pacific region.

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