Iran to intervene if ISIL nears borders: Minister
Iran’s interior minister says the Islamic Republic will step in if the ISIL Takfiri terrorists advance to within 40 kilometers of the country’s borders.
“We have previously announced that if Daesh (ISIL) advances to around 40 kilometers of our borders and intends to commit an act of sabotage, Iran will definitely intervene,” Abdolreza Rahmani Fazil told reporters on Monday.
He added that Iran's border areas with Iraq may be affected by ISIL Takfiri group's terrorist operations.
However, he said, no operation has so far been carried out against Iran’s security in the border areas due to the presence of the country’s military troops on the ground.
Rahmani Fazli further emphasized that the presence of US-led foreign forces in the region to fight the ISIL terrorists has been a mistake.
He said the US-led alliance has so far failed to contain the ISIL terrorists’ advances, adding that the Iraqi army has only been successful against the Takfiri group in areas where it has had the support of Iraqi popular forces.
Iraq’s former national security adviser told Press TV on Sunday that most US fighter jets deployed to bomb terrorists in the Arab country return to their bases without engaging terrorist positions.
Mowaffak al-Rubaie sharply criticized the US-led airstrikes against the ISIL as ineffective, saying, "from where I sit in Baghdad, eight out of each 10" aircraft loaded with ammunition return to their bases without striking their targets.
On May 17, the ISIL militants brought Iraq's central city of Ramadi in Anbar Province under their control.
The Popular Mobilization Units, one of the volunteer groups who have joined the Iraqi army, have been dispatched to Anbar Province after Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called on them to join the fight to drive the Takfiri militants out of Ramadi.
The ISIL terrorists, many of whom were initially trained by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, now control parts of Iraq and neighboring Syria. They have been committing crimes against humanity in the areas under their control.
SF/NN/HMV
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