Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has rebuked French President over his recent provokative support for sacrilegious cartoons against Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) warning that insulting Muslims and their sanctities as “opportunistic abuse of speech” that would merely fuel “extremism.”

"Insulting 1.9B Muslims—& their sanctities—for the abhorrent crimes of such extremists is an opportunistic abuse of freedom of speech. It only fuels extremism," Zarif wrote in a post on his official Twitter account on Monday.

Muslims are the primary victims of the "cult of hatred"—empowered by colonial regimes & exported by their own clients.

Insulting 1.9B Muslims—& their sanctities—for the abhorrent crimes of such extremists is an opportunistic abuse of freedom of speech.

It only fuels extremism.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) October 26, 2020
He added that Muslims are the primary victims of the "cult of hatred" that has been empowered by colonial regimes and exported by their own clients.

French President Emmanuel Macron has in recent weeks attacked Islam and the Muslim community, accusing Muslims of "separatism," and claiming that "Islam is a religion in crisis all over the world."

Macron has also approved the publication of blasphemous cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and stressed that his country would not give up the insulting cartoons despite harsh criticisms from Muslims.

Moreover, French teacher Samuel Paty raised controversy last week and provoked anger over showing defamatory cartoons of Islam's Prophet Muhammad to his students. Paty was decapitated by an 18-year-old assailant, identified as Chechen Abdullakh Anzorov, who was shot dead by police soon after the killing.

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Saturday lambasted French authorities' insult to Muslims and the noble religion of Islam in the European country, saying such policies would fail to counter extremism and instead breed hatred.

He said the move was not a tactful response to radicalism and violence, and would lead to hate-mongering more than ever before.

Meanwhile, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani also advised the French president to "read more history and not to rejoice in the support of a declining America & Zionism."

#Macron's irrational behavior in public #AntiIslamism shows his crudeness in politics, otherwise he would not have dared to embrace Islam in his quest for leadership in #Europe. I suggest that he read more history and not rejoice in the support of a declining America & #Zionism
— علی شمخانی (@alishamkhani_ir) October 26, 2020
"#Macron's irrational behavior in public #AntiIslamism shows his crudeness in politics, otherwise he would not have dared to embrace Islam in his quest for leadership in #Europe," the top Iranian security official tweeted.