US Wants To Use ISIS ‘To Materialize Long-Term Schemes’ In Middle East: Iran

Iran stands by Iraq in its fight against the Islamic State group. The assurance comes from Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif while Iran claims that the United States does not want ISIS to be destroyed.

Zarif had a meeting with Ammar Hakim, the chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, in Tehran Tuesday. “The Islamic Republic of Iran always views the expansion of Tehran-Baghdad ties as one of its priorities and supports the Iraqi government’s campaign against Daesh [another name for ISIS] that aims to destabilize Iraq’s security and unity,” Press TV quoted Zarif as saying.

Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, told Hakim that the U.S. was not willing to destroy ISIS forces as it wanted to use the militant organization “as a tool to materialize its long-term schemes for the region.”

“Daesh is a political sedition that uses religious alibis to sow the seeds of discord and materialize the objectives of the Zionist regime [of Israel],” Tehran Times quoted Shamkhani as saying.

Zarif mentioned that his talks with Russian officials had been “constructive and useful.” He said that he talked about the Syria conflict during his Moscow visit. The talks were about the respect for demands of Syrian people, the sovereignty of the country and the search for reasonable solutions to the political turmoil, he added.

Hakim informed Iraq had taken significant steps toward fighting ISIS militants. He added that the collaboration between government troops and popular forces had been quite effective. The joint effort has helped improve the security situation in the country, he said.

Zarif said that he had talks with senior officials during his visits in Syria and Lebanon, where they discussed about finding a solution to the ongoing crisis in both the countries.