Iran to present updated WAVE version to UN: Official

Iran plans to put forward an updated version of a resolution based on President Hassan Rouhani’s proposal for the World Against Violence and Extremism (WAVE) to the United Nations General Assembly for ratification.

Iranian Ambassador to the UN Gholam Ali Khoshrou made the announcement on Thursday at a meeting of the General Assembly in New York. The Islamic Republic, he said, has held preliminary talks with several countries to pave the way for adoption of the updated draft.

In December 2013, the General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to approve President Rouhani’s WAVE proposal, which called on all nations across the globe to denounce violence and extremism. The Iranian president had made the proposal in his address to the UN Disarmament Conference in New York on September 25, 2013.

Based on the developments of the past two years, the draft will be presented by Iran to the Assembly in the near future, Khoshrou said.

The Iranian envoy then referred to a recent letter by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to the young people in the West.

Khoshrou said the letter was aimed at presenting “a genuine viewpoint from inside the Muslim world on the fight against terrorism for the youth.”

The letter, which was released on November 29, called on the young people in the West to help pave the ground for enhanced interaction with the Muslim world.

It was the second time the Leader had addressed the Western youth in an open letter. In January, Ayatollah Khamenei sent another letter to the youth in Europe and North America, urging them to study about Islam and to obtain firsthand information about it before accepting their governments’ propaganda.

The Leader’s letter came against the backdrop of extensive acts of terrorism across the globe carried out by Takfiri terror groups such as Daesh, which is wreaking havoc on Syria and Iraq.