FM Reiterates Iran’s Role in Defeat of US,Saudi-Backed Daesh
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister dismissed attempts by US and Saudi officials to distort facts about Daesh (ISIL or ISIS), including the fact that Washington and Riyadh backed the terrorist group while Iran contributed to its defeat.
In a post on his Twitter account on Thursday, Zarif said it is a known fact that the US and Saudi Arabia armed the Takfiri terrorists group.
“No amount of ‘alternative facts’ by Trump & Co’s echo chamber, ‘vision of light’ spin by KSA, or credit-grabbing by the US for defeat of ISIS will change the facts that:
1. It was Iran who helped the people of Iraq & Syria defeat ISIS, and
2. It was the US and KSA who armed it.”
By ‘vision of light’, Zarif was hinting at Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir’s comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday
Jubeir, whose country’s support for terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and Daesh is an open secret, criticized Iran for what he said was its destabilizing behavior in the region.
“In the Middle East, we have two competing visions. Vision of light ... and we have a vision of darkness, and the vision of darkness is sectarianism, it’s trying to restore an empire that was destroyed thousands of years ago, it’s using sectarianism and terrorism in order to interfere in the affairs of other countries,” the Saudi foreign minister told a panel at the forum.
“History has shown that light always prevails over darkness.”
The US has also accused Iran of supporting terrorism. Tehran vehemently denies the allegation and considers Washington as the one behind the spread of terrorism in the region.
In comments after the collapse of Daesh’s so-called caliphate in Iraq and Syria back in November, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said the United States is the root cause of terrorism in the Middle East.
The US created Daesh and Taliban in cooperation with extremists in the region, Larijani said at the time.
Washington intends to create concern among regional countries about their relations with Iran, he said, adding that now that Daesh has been eliminated, the US seeks new plots and claims that Iran is a threat to the region.
“This is while we have never attacked any country and it is the US that has constantly threatened countries,” the top Iranian parliamentarian pointed out.
Backed by popular groups and Iranian military advisers, armed forces in Iraq and Syria managed to flush Daesh militants out of their last strongholds in both countries in November.
