TEHRAN – Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani has dismissed U.S. claims that it is fighting Daesh, saying Washington is only seeking to manipulate the terrorist group to serve its own interests in the region.

“We have repeatedly received documented reports proving that the U.S.-led coalition had been trying to manage Daesh instead of fighting against it and in cases that the terrorist group’s suppression was possible, America has shown no reaction and even helped it to flee the battlefield,” Shamkhani told the Arabic-language al-Vefagh newspaper in an interview published on Tuesday.

He added that the U.S. today has taken the gesture of fight against Daesh to cover its supports for the terrorist group and prevent implementation of an agreement Hezbollah made to evacuate the families of the terrorists from Syria.

"What we have so far seen from America and its allies is bombing the residential areas, massacre of women and children, targeting the positions of the Syrian army and Iraqi popular forces and some limited ineffective operations which have covered dispatch of logistical aid to the terrorists,” Shamkhani said.

In relevant remarks in July, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani blasted the U.S. and its allies for supporting the terrorist groups, saying that Washington is only pretending to be combating Daesh.

“At the time when Iraq was being overrun by Daesh, did the United States make the slightest move in defense of it? Or was it the Iranian nation that rendered aid to the Iraqi nation and Iraqi government?” Larijani asked.

He reiterated that if Iran had not assisted the Iraqi government and nation, Baghdad would have been occupied by ISIL by now. "It is with the help of Iran that the Daesh is taking its last breath in Iraq and Syria."

Also in the same month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif urged the U.S. to stop supporting the terrorist groups in the region, noting that Washington's recent approach in Syria will only make the Daesh stronger.

"Another dangerous U.S. escalation in Syria on fake pretext will only serve ISIS, precisely when it’s being wiped out by Iraqi and Syrian people,” Zarif wrote on his Twitter page.

The Iranian foreign minister underlined that the U.S. should join the real war against terrorist groups instead of pursuing policies that strengthen the terrorists.

SP/PA