Roundup: Iran urges Islamic media to defy U.S. influence in region

Iranian international affairs senior advisor to the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ali-Akbar Velayati, urged Islamic media Sunday to defy what he deems American regional influence.

"Mercenaries follow the United States objectives in Islamic countries, and the media's role is critical in this regard," Velayati said at the eighth General Assembly of Islamic Radio and Television Union (IRTVU) which started Sunday in Iran's capital of Tehran.

Islamic media's key responsibility is to counter American regional influence, Velayati said.

The IRTVU should reevaluate its strategy to meet the pace of development in western Asia and northern Africa, in order to "neutralize plots against Islamic states," he said.

In addition, the IRTVU needs to upgrade its production quality in order to counteract the cultural and political influences of "devilish unions including Hollywood productions and those against or fighting Islam," Velayati said.

Western media is deaf and dumb when it comes to crimes committed in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, and they do not report any misconduct against Israel and the U.S. division plans in Islamic states, he added.

Velayati hailed what he termed Syrian and Iraqi resistance against Israel and terrorist groups, saying that after their defeat in Iraq, the United States started a war-by-proxy in Iraq.

The U.S.'s vision to disunite and divide Islamic countries will never materialize, he stressed.

Furthermore, visiting Syrian Information Minister, Omran al-Zoubi, said Sunday that Syrian people will never allow the splintering of Syria.

"Although Syria suffered tremendously from recent damage, it will neither die nor collapse," al-Zoubi told IRTVU's General Assembly meeting.

Syrian infrastructure has been wrecked by Islamic State (IS) militants and other terrorist groups supported by the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, he said.

"The only one benefitting the most from attacking Syria is the Israeli Zionist regime (but) nobody dares to remove the Syrian flag, and neither the United States, Israel nor similar cowards from the Persian Gulf's southern region have the power to do so," he was quoted as saying by state IRIB TV.

"My country is the hotbed of the Islamic world and is a member of the global Muslim family," he said, adding that "we only have one choice: to fight to the last drop of our blood. Syrians will not allow an iota of their country to be separated."

Political solutions to the Syrian crisis that do not honor free elections by Syrians and their leader(s) are doomed to failure, al-Zoubi added.

Representatives attending the IRTVU conference launched U-NEWS in Tehran Sunday specifically to cover Islamic states' events, IRIB reported.

U-NEWS will produce news and features focused on Islamic states and their "resistance" including Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Bahrain, according to report.

News releases will be available online at www.u.news.net, according to IRIB.

On the sidelines of the conference, the Islamic Film Market's sixth edition was inaugurated Sunday, where over 90 producers of "clean productions" participated.

Exhibiting their latest productions at the film market were the Iranian state radio, TV channels, institutes including Farabi Cinema Foundation, the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) and the Documentary and Experimental Film Center (DEFC).

The Kenyan Star Media Institute and Lebanese al-Manar, a satellite television station, were also among foreign participants in the market.

Moreover, the latest technological and media devices will be showcased alongside the conference.

The IRTVU was established by the Islamic Republic and includes over 220 members. Endit