Iran Raps Bahrain's Paradoxical Stance on Counter-Terrorism

“Unfortunately, the claim on the battle against the ISIL terrorist group is now being made by parties whose behavior and measures - as everybody knows - have clearly propped up that terrorist group over the past years, and the contradictory comments made by certain politicians in the region also stem from the same uncertainty in their stances towards the need for serious fight against terrorism,” the informed official said.

The criticism came in reaction to the remarks attributed to Bahraini Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmad Al Khalifa in recent days.

On Saturday, the Gulf Daily News cited the Bahraini official as saying that the he welcomes Iran's involvement in an international coalition against ISIL, due to be held in Paris on Monday.

But shortly after the announcement, Bahrain's Foreign Ministry issues a statement and denied the story as “totally false", according to the BNA news agency.

Iran has not been invited to a Monday’s meeting in Paris, amid US resistance to involving Tehran in the regional coalition it has been building in recent days to fight the ISIL.

Elsewhere in the comments, the informed official said Iran was the first country that raised the alarm over the growing threat of the ISIL in Syria and Iraq.

Iran had since long ago cautioned the ISIL political and financial supporters that they themselves will fall victim to the terrorist group if they continue such backings, the official noted.

The ISIL is a militant group operating in Iraq and Syria, believed to be supported by the West and some regional Arab countries. The terrorist group claims as an independent state the territory of Iraq and Syria, with implied future claims intended over more of the Levant, including Lebanon, occupied Palestine, Jordan, Cyprus, and Southern Turkey.