Iran urges quick global action on Rohingya genocide, sending relief

Iran’s foreign minister has criticised the international community for remaining silent on the violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and called for quick action “to end the genocide”.

“The international community has no excuse to allow the genocide of Rohingya Muslims to continue in front of our eyes,” Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Thursday.

He also demanded urgent action to address the plight of Rohingya Muslims, saying, “We must act now before it's too late.”

The Iranian Red Crescent Society said on Thursday that it had set up a working group to help the Myanmar Muslims following an order by President Hassan Rouhani.

Hamid Jamaloddini, the society’s spokesman, said consignments of vital relief aid and medical items were ready to be dispatched to Myanmar, according to Iranian Presstv.

The Iranian official further noted that the society had informed the International Red Cross of its readiness to provide Rohingya Muslims who are in urgent need of living accommodations with residence.

Myanmar's security forces have been attacking the Rohingya Muslims in a bid to push them out of the western state of Rakhine.

The attacks have intensified since Aug 25, following alleged armed attacks on police and military posts in Rakhine.

The Rohingya have been subject to communal violence by extremist Buddhists for years, forcing large groups of Muslims to take perilous journeys and seek refuge in Bangladesh and other neighbouring countries.

Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has come under fire for failing to protect the country’s Muslim minority from persecution.

She claimed on Wednesday that “a huge iceberg of misinformation” was spreading about violence in western Myanmar.

The UN says more than 164,000 Myanmar nationals have crossed the border into Bangladesh in a daily average of 12,000 in two weeks since the beginning of the latest wave of violence in Rakhine State.