TEHRAN - President Rouhani has asserted that Iran has been in the frontline of counterterrorism both ideologically and pragmatically, saying if it had not been for Iran’s supports, Damascus and Bagdad would have fallen into the hands of Daesh, the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

Rouhani made the remarks in an international seminar on environment, culture, and religion on Saturday in Tehran.

“Without Iran… now we would have faced the terrorist government of Daesh,” Rouhani noted.

Syrian and Iraqi officials have already thanked Iran for helping them in their fight against the self-styled Islamic caliphate.  

Rouhani added if ISIL’s dreams had come true, the whole world would have been in jeopardy and the world had no idea of what would have happened to Paris, Brussels, and New York. 

In the beginning when ISIL launched rapid savage attacks on Syria and Iraq, Iran was the only regional country that rushed to the support of Iraq and Syria to block ISIL’s rapid advances.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Rouhani implied that Tehran has had the concern to make the world a better place to live by proposing initiatives such as a united world against violence and terrorism and dialogue among civilizations.  

In 2103, Iran invited the international community to embrace Tehran’s vision of a “world against violence and extremism (WAVE),” which later on was endorsed by the UN General Assembly.

Also, in 2001, Iran proposed the dialogue among civilizations, calling for a more peaceful world.

Rouhani’s remarks come days after Iran, coupled with Hezbollah, was branded as backer of terrorism in the final draft of the 13th Organization of Islamic Cooperation in the region.

AK/PA