Iranian MP Calls US-Led Coalition against ISIL “Hypocritical Show”
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian lawmaker voiced doubts over the sincerity of a US-led coalition against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group, and said the US is after long-term military presence in the region.
“The coalition against the ISIL is a hypocritical game and show, whose main goal is the long-term (military) presence in the region and to serve the interests of the global arrogance and provide security for the Zionist regime of Israel,” Ebrahim Aqamohammadi, a member of Iranian Parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission told the Tasnim News Agency on Wednesday.
“That coalition is not a real one,” he noted, expressing doubt about the US-led coalition’s seriousness in their campaign against terrorism.
“This (coalition) is an excuse for them (US and allies) to once again mount military campaign (in the region) and deploy forces to the Islamic countries in a bid to fulfill their goals, which is domination over the Islamic states,” Aqamohammadi noted.
The ISIL is a militant group 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.
The remarks by the Iranian lawmaker came after Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei on Monday dismissed as “absurd, hollow and biased” the US announcement of leading a coalition to battle the ISIL.
Ayatollah Khamenei also pointed to the contradictions in words and deeds of the US officials, stressing that the main objective behind the US plan to battle the ISIL is to have military presence in the region.
