TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Friday offered his condolences to the French people over a terrorist incident that took place in central Paris, during which one police officer was killed and two others critically wounded.

Condemning the terror attack that hit Paris on Thursday night, Qassemi called for unity among all countries across the world to defeat terrorism.

Qassemi said terrorism is the first and most immediate threat against “global peace, stability and security.”

He noted that the West’s support for criminal terrorists and its double standards in dealing with terrorism has emboldened the terrorists to carry out another attack at the heart of Europe.

Daesh has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by Abu Yousuf al-Baljiki, known as the Belgian.

The spokesman further said that terrorism cannot be eradicated without a consensus and a firm determination among members of the international community.

Wielding a machine gun, the gunman leapt out of a car and opened fire on a police bus on the Chaps-Elysees, Paris’s most famous boulevard. He was later shot dead by police.

It came days before first round of France’s presidential election. Three leading presidential candidates, François Fillon, Emmanuel Macron and Le Pen, canceled their campaign events after the incident.

The attack could impact the results of the elections in favor of anti-Muslim candidate Le Pen, who called for the closure of all “Islamist” mosques in France and vowed to take a tough stance on “Islamic terrorism”.

French Prime Minister Bernard Cazeneuve accused Le Pen of trying to take advantage of the attack.

“The candidate from National Front, like every drama, seeks to profit and use the situation to divide and benefit for exclusively political ends,” he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump has also said that the terrorist attack will have a “big effect” on the country's forthcoming presidential election.

“Another terrorist attack in Paris,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “The people of France will not take much more of this.”

“Will have a big effect on presidential election!”

Trump rose to power in part by channeling the American people’s anger and fear towards immigrants, especially Latinos and Muslims.

Observers say as a result of his victory, far-right politicians in Europe, who also share Trump’s anti-immigrant policies, are making significant gains, which could in turn bring about an era of xenophobic European foreign policy.

MH/PA