Iran’s Zarif: US Invasion of Iraq Helped Create ISIL
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 prepared the ground for the rise of terrorist groups in the Middle East, including the ISIL Takfiri group.
“There is a consensus that violent extremist groups benefited from the havoc that erupted during the US invasion in Iraq. An ISIL-like group that is nourished by collapse and chaos, showed progress thanks to the instability and chaos that happened following the US attack on Iraq in 2003," this is according to an article penned by the Iranian foreign minister and published in the Tuesday edition of the Turkish Cumhuriyet daily, Turkey's Daily Sabah reported.
Zarif further took swipe at Turkish and US interventionist policies towards Syria and said, "The so-called Greater Middle East Initiative, which aims at socially and politically designing Middle Eastern societies with the 'democracy' excuse, theoretically prepared the framework for military interventions."
Iranian foreign minister also said that such policies will one day backfire and extremism will come back to haunt its creators.