ISIL Product of Foreign Invasion in Middle East, Says Zarif

The ISIL terrorists in Iraq and Syria are an outcome of foreign invasion in the Middle East, says Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad JavadZarif.

Zarif made the remarks during a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Wednesday.

He said the states that took part in a Paris conference on the US-led coalition against the ISIL earlier this week, had supported the Takfiris in the past.

“We do not support foreign military involvement in the region,” Zarif said, adding, “As a principle, we don’t believe that injection of foreign forces – either air or ground – solves our problem.”

The Iranian foreign minister noted that Iran was the first country to take measures to help Iraq in the face of the Takfiri threat.

He called for a Syrian-led solution to the crisis in Iraq’s neighboring country.

Zarif also commented about Iran’s nuclear energy program, slamming the United States for its obsession with sanctions against Tehran.

Iran has lived up to its obligations regarding the nuclear program and is determined to resolve the issue, he stated.

Last November, Tehran and the six countries signed an interim deal in Geneva, which took effect on January 20 and expired six months later. In July, Iran and the six countries agreed to extend negotiations until November 24 this year after they failed to reach common ground on a number of key issues.

Iran has planned bilateral meetings with the six major world powers on Tehran’s nuclear energy program. Zarif said earlier that the meetings

would take place before Iranian President Hassan Rouhani arrives in New York next week to attend the UN General Assembly.

Uprooting terrorism requires real resolve, says Fat’hali

On the other hand, Iran’s ambassador to Lebanon says terrorism and extremism in the region could be uprooted if all types of support for the terrorist groups are cut off.

“If there is real determination to annihilate terrorism and extremism in the region, the first step should be to dry up all types of financial, military, security and logistic assistance for the Takfiri terrorist groups,” Mohammad Fat’hali told reporters.

The Iranian envoy made the remarks after a meeting with Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Gebran Basil in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, where the two officials discussed the latest developments in the region as well as ways to expand bilateral ties between the two countries.

Iran was the first country that warned against the threats posed by Takfiri terrorists to the region and has taken measures to counter this phenomenon before any country, he said.

The Iranian official further expressed hope that the regional countries could weather the challenges they are currently facing and restore security to the region.

Fat’hali further said that Iran and Lebanon have see eye to eye on many regional issues and are determined to counter Takfiri terrorists.

In recent years, several countries in the region, including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan and Afghanistan have become the scene of atrocious crimes against humanity by Takfiri terrorist groups.

The Takfiri terrorist group has committed heinous crimes and threatened all communities.

The US along with its Western and regional allies — especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey — is reportedly supporting militants operating inside Syria.

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