Iran Ready to Repel Any Threat Posed by Takfiri Terrorists: Commander
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A top Iranian military commander emphasized the high level of preparedness among the country's armed forces for countering any hostile move, including a possible encounter with the Takfiri militants.
Addressing army cadets in Tehran on Monday, Commander of the Iranian Army Ground Force Brigadier General Ahmad Reza Pourdastan played down the threat of militancy posed by Takfiri terrorists, including the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group in neighboring Iraq.
"These terrorist groups seek to approach the country's borders, but the Islamic Republic of Iran's armed forces are prepared and will not allow anybody to do that," he underlined.
Pourdastan further said Takfiri terrorist groups have been created by the enemies as part of a ploy to pit Islamic denominations against one another.
Back in May, Iran's Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan said the country does not consider the ISIL terrorists to be even a threat, stressing that any hostile move by the notorious group against Iran will be nipped in the bud.
The ISIL is a militant group that made advances in northern and western Iraq over summer 2014, after capturing swaths of northern Syria.
In the meantime, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and the volunteer forces, who rushed to take arms after top Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling for fight against the militants, have blunted the edge of the ISIL offensive.
Amid tensions in Iraq, Iran is known as the first country to help the Arab country and has always voiced support for Iraq’s prosperity and territorial integrity.