Tehran, NU Online
 In a joint statement at the end of a two-day summit in Khartoum on Thursday, the Islamic states of Iran and Sudan condemned any Western efforts to link terrorism to Islam.

While stressing that terrorism in all forms and under all pretexts should be condemned and confronted, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and President Omar Hassan al-Bashir called for a "precise and transparent" definition of terrorism.

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"Terrorism and legitimate resistance against occupation should be distinguished and any efforts linking terrorism to Islam be condemned," the statement said.

The two sides praised what they called resistance by the Lebanese people against "Zionism" (Israel) and called on the United States and British forces to withdraw from Iraq.

The two Islamic states further called for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction and said Western attention should be paid to Israel’s nuclear threat in the region.

Sudan called for a diplomatic settlement of Iran’s nuclear dispute and the return of the case from the United Nations Security Council to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The African nation stressted that it supports Iran’s efforts to pursue civil nuclear technology and deplores any international discrimination against Iran.

The two countries also signed several documents on future cooperation in the fields of investment, industry, mining, environment, water filteration, forensic medicine and academics.

The ISNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying he and his delegation felt "like at home with our own brothers and sisters" while in Sudan. According to the presidential website, Ahmadinejad told religious scholars in Khartoum on Wednesday that Israel was created by Britain and trained by the United States to commit crimes in Middle East.

"The Zionists are therefore the real personification of Satan," Ahmadinejad said, in reference to the term "Great Satan," which is used by the clergy system against the US. (ant/mad)