Iran, Libya discuss religion and nukes

TEHRAN, Sept. 10 (UPI) -- Iran and Libya must cooperate to ensure their common enemies do not propagate religious friction as a weapon against Islamic states, officials say.

Saad Mujbe, the Libyan envoy to Tehran, met with Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former Iranian president and chairman of the Expediency Council, a clerical body advising the supreme leader.

Both sides discussed a wide range of challenges facing the Islamic community of nations, particular religious unity and the Iranian nuclear program.

Mujbe said both countries must cooperate to ensure solidarity in the Islamic community, the Mehr News Agency reports.

"Enemies seek to sow religious discord in order to counter Islamic states," the ambassador complained.

He went on to defend Iran's controversial nuclear program on the heels of Western complaints that Iran was very close to developing a nuclear weapon.

"Western countries are trying to portray Iran as a nuclear threat to the region and push the major threat, which is the Zionist regime, to the sideline," he said.

Rafsanjani, for his part, praised the historic friendship between both countries, pointing to Libya's support for Iran during the eight-year Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.