TEHRAN, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Ministry on Wednesday dismissed a recent annual report by the U.S. government on the lack of religious freedom in the Islamic republic.
The Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi said that the U.S. Department of State's report is "unrealistic, baseless and biased," and the document has been prepared to serve only political purposes, Tasnim news agency reported.
Qasemi said the report is "undoubtedly unacceptable," presenting "once again a distorted image of the status of religious freedom" in Iran with wrong allegations.
Qasemi hit back at the U.S. government with what he called "the U.S. dark record of racial and religious discrimination, Islamophobia and xenophobia, as well as violent attacks and police brutality against Muslims."
He suggested that the U.S. government take legal and practical measures to protect religious freedom itself, and particularly make sure that Muslims' rights are respected in the United States, instead of judging the status of religious freedom in other countries.
