ISLAMABAD: Iran Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Honardoost on Friday criticised the Saudi-led 34-state Islamic military coalition formed to combat terrorism in the Muslim world, terming it 'ridiculous.'

"If they [Muslim powers] are so serious in the fight against terrorism then why Iran, Iraq and Syria are kept out of this alliance," questioned the Iranian envoy while addressing a press briefing in the federal capital.

"On one hand they make this alliance but on the other hand they are funding terrorists and extremists," Honardoost remarked.

The Iranian envoy maintained that the militant Islamic State group had become a serious security threat to the Muslim world, and stressed the need for joint efforts to overcome this menace.

Also read: A flawed alliance

Honardoost said the Iranian president is due to visit Pakistan by the end of this month and that he will sign a number of agreements and MOUs during his visit.

“Iran is against any foreign interference in Syria and wants that the crisis be resolved peacefully,” the ambassador maintained.

The coalition alliance was announced by Saudi Arabia in December last year for coordinating and supporting military operations against terrorism in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan. The headquarters of the new Saudi-led coalition would be based in Riyadh.

The kingdom said it was “a duty to protect the Islamic nation from the evils of all terrorist groups and organisations, whatever their sect and name, which wreak death and corruption on earth and aim to terrorise the innocent.”