“With its advisory supports in the region, Iran has played a very important role in the fight against Daesh, which threatens the world security,” Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters in Tehran on Saturday.
Warning against the persistent threat of Daesh and radicalism in the world, the Iranian top diplomat called for a ‘long-term, fundamental and cultural’ battle against extremist ideologies and for regional cooperation to counter the common threat.
Zarif also expressed the hope that Tehran would keep playing its leading role in the fight against extremism and in promoting dialogue and concerted action, particularly among the Persian Gulf neighbors.
Daesh militants made swift advances in northern and western Iraq over the summer of 2014, after capturing large areas of Syria.
But the timely support by Iran helped Syria and Iraq fight off the terror group. In addition, formation of military units by volunteers in Iraq, known as Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Units, blunted the edge of Daesh offensive and later made the terror group withdraw from much of the territories it had occupied.
In November 2017, Daesh terrorists were flushed out of their last stronghold in Syria’s Al-Bukamal. The city’s liberation marked an end to the group’s self-proclaimed caliphate it had declared in 2014.