Spokesman:

US Deliberately Ignoring Iran's Anti-Terror Fight

TEHRAN (defapress)- Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi underlined that the US is either deliberately turning a blind eye on the reality of Iran fighting terrorism in the region or has been caught off-guard and worried by the territorial collapse of the ISIL terrorist group in the Middle East.

News ID: 67209

Date: 01 December 2017 - 17:45

"The endless repetition of the anti-Iran allegations by the US officials indicates that they have either deliberately closed their eyes to the reality of ISIL’s major defeat in Iraq and Syria or are painfully blindsided and worried by the loss of the territory... ISIL controlled... in Iraq and Syria,” Qassemi said in statement in reaction to recent remarks by US Vice President Mike Pence, who accused Iran of destabilizing the Middle East.

On Tuesday, Pence had said that the administration of US President Donald Trump would not tolerate what he called Tehran’s support for terrorism.

Qassemi pointed to Iran’s support for Iraq and Syria in their fights against the ISIL terrorist group, and said no one could overlook Iran’s "positive and constructive role in fighting the scourge of terrorism in the region and the world.”

"For five years, we have been standing responsibly by the governments and nations of Iraq and Syria with an objective to help regional stability and security so that today we can stand witness to the termination of the self-proclaimed rule of the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group in these two countries,” he said.

Since militancy began in Iraq and Syria, including by the ISIL, Iran has been offering advisory military help to the two countries in their fight to contain terrorism and push back the ISIL.

On November 17, Iraqi armed forces liberated the town of Rawa — the last remaining town under ISIL’s control in Iraq near the Syrian border — and raised the Iraqi flag over its buildings.

Two days later, Syrian army soldiers, backed by allied forces, fully liberated Albu Kamal, ISIL's last stronghold in Syria, which is a strategic city in the country’s Eastern province of Deir Ezzur on the border with Iraq.