US strikes against ISIL just a show of force: Iran MP

US strikes against ISIL just a show of force: Iran MP
Mon Aug 11, 2014 13:15:57

A senior Iranian lawmaker has slammed recent US military strikes against ISIL terrorists in Iraq as ineffective and a mere show of force, pointing to Washington’s earlier refusal to assist Baghdad in confronting the foreign-backed terror group.

“The Americans, who have backed terrorist groups in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, are putting on a show versus the ISIL [terrorist group] rather than taking serious action against them, in order to proclaim that they’re playing a role in the region,” said Chairman of Iran’s Majlis (parliament) Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy Al’eddin Boroujerdi in an exclusive interview with al-Alam televised news network on Monday.

“Therefore, Iran does not welcome such act of [force] exhibition” on the part of the US, said the Iranian MP.

He further emphasized that such US intervention “definitely does not benefit Iraq and the region.”

Pointing to Iraq’s Kurdistan region and their earlier efforts to cooperate with the Takfiri terrorist group, Boroujerdi said, “Our Kurdish friends in Iraq made erroneous calculations since they wishfully thought that if they cooperate with ISIL, they would not intrude into their region.”

However, he added, “We had told the Kurds that that the ISIL does not have mercy for any sides since they are [only] interested in implementing the schemes that they have already planned for.”

The Iranian lawmaker further emphasized that “Iran has declared its readiness to offer assistance to the Kurds and the Iraqi central government in confronting the ISIL, and we [currently] give them advise on the issue since we do not see Kurdistan as separate from Iraq.”

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