US report won’t affect Iran’s support for regional nations: Official

A senior Iranian official has criticized a recent US report which branded Tehran as a “sponsor of terrorism,” saying the designation will not affect Iran’s support for regional countries.

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani made the remarks on Sunday in reaction to the US State Department’s global terrorism report published on June 3.

The report claimed that Iran was the top “state sponsor of terrorism” and labeled the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group as “the greatest threat globally.”

“America today is using Daesh as a tool and defending the Zionist regime. But the Islamic Republic of Iran which has stood up against (American) hegemony and confronted it is put on the list of terrorists,” Shamkhani said.

“This will have no effect on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s policy of defending regional nations,” he added.

Daesh is wreaking havoc in Iraq and Syria with a number of Western countries and their regional allies believed to be supporting the militants fighting the government forces in the two Arab countries.

On Sunday, the commander of the Iranian Army’s Ground Force said the country’s strategy is to dismantle Daesh outside national borders.

Brigadier General Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan said Daesh has been created by those promoting Islamophobia.

Takfiri terrorist groups, the commander said, are backed by the US and its allies, and are being used as tools to foment sectarian conflicts.

The general said the US is seeking to get Iran involved in a sectarian war, adding armed forces should do their best to counter such plots.