TEHRAN - Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran Ali Shamkhani said the United States is not seeking to destroy the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“United States does not intend to destroy ISIL, but uses it as a tool to materialize its long-term schemes for the region,” he said in a meeting with President of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq Ammar al-Hakim in Tehran on Tuesday.

“Daesh is a political sedition which uses religious alibis to sow the seed of discord and materialize the objectives of the Zionist regime [of Israel],” he emphasized, referring to ISIL by its Arabic name.

The fact that terrorists in Iraq are in tune with the Ba’ath agents and carry out anti-Islamic acts proves that the conflict lacks religious basis, but rather is part of a grand plan to remove Iraq from the axis of resistance, the Iranian official said.

Shamkhani also welcomed a series of recent changes in the Iraqi government, praising them as effective in undermining efforts aimed at weakening the Iraqi government.

Hakim for his part delivered a report about the latest political and military developments in Iraq.

He also thanked Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for supporting Iraq against terrorism.

SP/OS