IRNA – A prominent Iranian religious leader called for strong will to confront the wave of violence and terror.

“Freedom from the wave of violence and terror needs strong determination on the part of governments and religious leaders of the world,” Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi said.

“The news of the barbaric assault of the suicide bombers to a church was very saddening. Unfortunately, takfiri terrorist groups commit crimes like these to defame Islam and spread Islamophobia,” he said in his statement.

Referring to the terrorist actions in Sweden, Russia, and Egypt, the statement reads, “Governments and the religious leaders of the world don’t show the necessary determination” to fight terrorism.

He has also sympathized with those have been targeted in the attacks and prayed for the injured.

In an explosion on Sunday in two churches in Egypt, 45 people were killed and 125 others were injured.