MOSCOW (IRNA) -- Iran’s Culture and Islamic Guidance Minister said on Friday Iran represents a version of Islam that is free of deviation, against extremist tendencies, and opposed to people’s falling preys to satanic traps.

Mohammad-Hossein Saffar-Harandi who is in Moscow to attend at Iran’s first ever Culture Week in Russia added in an exclusive interview with IRNA, “The genuine version of Islam practiced and defended in Islamic Republic of Iran has serious barriers with the deviated versions, such as those practiced by Taliban, or al-Qaeda.”
He said, “Some extremists who claim to be Muslims, damage, or even ruin the beautiful image of Islam in the minds of the world nations, including in Russia, and if such tendencies would not be properly controlled, they might boost terrorist tendencies and lead to other negative phenomena, as well.”
The Iranian Culture Minister reiterated, “Naturally, Islamic Republic of Iran’s insistence on need for observing genuine Islam provides an appropriate opportunity for the Islamic countries, and for Russia, that has considerable Islamic population, to check the authenticity of various Islamic tendencies based on the Book and the holy Prophet’s tradition.”