Ministry: West Cannot Be So Irresponsible Toward Refugee Crisis

Date: 20 June 2023 - 21:48

News ID: ۱۱۶۳۳۴

TEHRAN - Iran has rebuked the West for evading responsibility for the current refugee crisis, saying the U.S. and Europe are to blame as their “wrong policies” triggered a migration wave.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani made the remarks via Twitter on Tuesday, after an overcrowded fishing trawler carrying as many as 750 migrants, including around 100 children, sank in the Mediterranean Sea.

The boat was traveling from Libya to Italy when it capsized off the coast of Greece on Wednesday. So far, only 104 survivors have been found and 81 bodies recovered, while more than 500 people are still missing.

It is said to be one of the deadliest refugee shipwrecks recorded on the central Mediterranean migration route since 2015.

“The sinking of a vessel carrying hundreds of refugees, including dozens of women and children from different Asian and African countries, in the Mediterranean waters off the coast of Greece is tragic and painful,” Kan’ani said.

“The West cannot remain irresponsible towards the refugee crisis, because many of the illegal migrations from Asia and Africa to the West stem from the wrong policies of the U.S. and Europe in these regions.”

He also offered Iran’s condolences to the bereaved families and wished divine mercy for the victims of the disaster.

For almost a decade, Europe has been grappling with a refugee crisis, with Middle Eastern and African asylum seekers looking for safe harbor.

The migration wave was sparked by the emergence of the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group, which was founded and supported by the U.S.