As the United States moves to escalate its war against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and forge a coalition against the terrorist group, Iran should be consulted, a former deputy foreign minister of Iran, told New Europe.
“They should come to Iran and listen to what Iran is saying about how to contain this because this needs a unified, comprehensive, cohesive, consistent policy to fight against this and they don’t have it,” Gholamali Khoshroo said, speaking on the sidelines of the “Dialogue of Civilizations” forum in Rhodes on September 28.
Washington needs Tehran’s help in the Middle East to face a common enemy. Iran and its affiliated Shi’a militias in Iraq can help take on ISIS.
“We have been always helpful to Iraqi people, to Iraqi government from the beginning,” he said, adding that some western countries and Arab countries were helping this opposition in Syria and now this opposition has become dangerous.
Khoshroo said a consistent policy is needed to fight ISIS. “Sometimes they are supporting them. In one country they are supporting them, in another country they wanted to attack them. They’re supporting them in the last 3 years now suddenly after the beheading of some American journalist they wanted to fight them,” he said.
“At the same time the fight is not accurate, it’s not comprehensive,” Khoshroo said. “They’re dropping bombs. Okay, this is the easiest task for Americans to do. They’re flying from above and drop some bombs. But these have roots, these have access, these have received resources from the countries in the region, they have received arms, they have received money, they have received logistical support and all countries in the region should come together and stop those and cut those channels,” he said.
Asked if Iran has a plan, the former deputy foreign minister of Iran, said they should collect intelligence. “About 3,000 Europeans have joined this group. This is an international terrorist organisation - the most powerful international organisation. They were selling oil off Syria and collecting money. Still they are attracting people from Europe,” he said.
“These people have been there in Syria for years now and they have connections with their own constituency, in their own countries. This is a security danger for all Europeans,” Khoshroo said.
He called for cooperation under the umbrella of the United Nations in a very serious and consistent manner to fight this new terrorist threat.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/iran-wants-say-us-war-isis