Minister: ISIL retreat from Baghdad indebted to Iran

Iranian Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance Ali Jannati underlined Iran’s all-out fight against terrorists, saying that the country’s aid to Iraq helped stop the march of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorists on Baghdad.

“Had there been no support by Iran, the ISIL terrorists would have entered Baghdad by now,” Jannati said, addressing a group of Kuwaiti lawmakers, clerics and university professors in Kuwait City on Wednesday.

He underlined that the Iran-Iraq joint efforts, especially Tehran’s cooperation with the new Iraqi government, resulted in thwarting the terrorist acts, and expressed hope that the Iraqi government could fully get rid of the foreign-backed terrorists.

The Iranian minister of culture and Islamic guidance reiterated that the most important challenge facing the region at present is extremism in Iraq and Syria, and said, “The same countries that supported terrorism and extremism in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Syria have now formed the anti-ISIL front. But this coalition will surely fail to destroy the terrorists and the ISIL in Northern Iraq and Syria.

He pointed to the failure of big powers in Syria, and said, “The big powers have now become disappointed at Syria because they thought they could topple the Syrian government in two months, but four years after the start of this war President Bashar al-Assad won the presidential election in that country.”

In September, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi underlined friendly and brotherly ties between the two countries, and said Tehran spares no efforts to help Baghdad in handling the current volatile situation.

During the meeting on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly meeting in New York, President Rouhani stressed that Iran does not seek permission from any one to support Iraq’s security and development, and said, “Tehran considers Iraq’s security and stability as its own security and stability.”

In the strategic Middle East region, development and progress are possible only through consolidation of solidarity, he said.

Hailing Bagdad’s achievements in its fight against the ISIL terrorist group, President Rouhani said Iran would spare no assistance to Iraq in its current ordeal considering it a duty for Tehran both from the religious and neighboring aspects.

President Rouhani stressed any military act in Iraq, including bombarding the ISIL positions, by foreign countries should be made based on Baghdad’s demand and permission.