Iran to Continue Advisory Aid to Region’s Crisis-Hit Countries: Deputy FM
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Tehran will resolutely keep providing advisory help to crisis-hit countries in the region.
The Islamic Republic of Iran will firmly and proudly continue its advisory assistance to the governments of countries plagued with terrorism in the region to help establish security and counter the threat of terrorist groups, Amir Abdollahian said Monday.
Referring to an ongoing major offensive launched by the Iraqi army on the strongholds of the Daesh (also known as ISIL and ISIS) terrorists in the city of Fallujah, Anbar province, he said, “had it not been for Tehran’s support and the Iraqi and Syrian troops’ effective measures in the battle against terrorism, no safe place would be left in the sensitive West Asia region now.”
The Iraqi army, supported by volunteer forces, began the operation to recapture Fallujah on May 23, first by tightening its siege around the city, 50 km (30 miles) west of Baghdad, and has now begun a direct assault.
The top Iranian diplomat further said that state and non-state sponsors of the terrorists and the parties that use terrorism as a tool are not only threatening regional and international security but also paying a high price themselves.
His comments came after Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir accused Iran of military presence in Iraq and of interfering in the internal affairs of other regional countries.
In reaction, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari rejected the allegations, stressing that Iran’s advisory mission in Iraq is underway at the request of Baghdad.
“In order to recognize its own interests, friends and enemies, the Iraqi nation does not need statements by the foreign minister of a country that has been the biggest factor of instability and a sponsor of terrorism in Iraq, the region and the world in the past decade and a half,” Jaberi Ansari said in a statement on Friday.
“The presence of Iran’s military advisors under the command of Major General Qassem Soleimani in Iraq comes at the request of the legitimate government of Iraq for confronting the terrorists and extremists causing instability and insecurity in the Arab country and the region,” the spokesman added.
Jabei Ansari further called on the Saudi foreign minister to stop trying to deceive public opinion and distort facts, saying he should remember that his country is now known as the number one and most dangerous sponsor of terrorism in the world.
