TEHRAN - Iran’s ex-defense minister says that Iran’s engagement in the fight against ISIL in the Middle East has been a wakeup call to the world about the menace of this and other terrorist groups.

Hussein Dehghan in his recent conversation with the Tehran Times believes that terrorist groups are the root cause of regional and global insecurity and instability. 

Below is part two of the interview with Iran’s former defense minister Dehghan: 

Washington did achieve its objectives and gained control in many countries, except for a short time in Tunisia and in Egypt when the Muslim Brotherhood was in power. The Egyptian revolution of 2011 was the first experience for the Muslim Brotherhood’s in power, but they soon faced the U.S. and Zionist plots.  

With the presence of the U.S. military in Iraq, Daesh or ISIL first appeared in Fallujah, a city that had come under heavy attack by U.S. forces. Initially, ISIL operatives were mainly from the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, but over time others, actually trained by the U.S. in various parts of the world, joined them. 

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was a prisoner of the U.S. in Iraq for a while, was chosen and trained by the U.S. government to create chaos in Syria and the region. The While House had few clear objectives in mind except chaos, earning the moniker “Empire of Chaos”. First, they wanted to destroy the infrastructures of Arab countries in the Middle East, except the Arab states along the Persian Gulf. Many people were uprooted by the conflicts and many martyred. 

The aftermath of a war doesn’t just end with one generation, but it affects generations to come. A war can destroy cultural heritages, old traditions and many aspects of civilization. Daesh had planned to ruin the holy shrines in Najaf and Karbala, but the Islamic Republic at the request of the Iraqis and Syrians entered the fray in the fight against ISIL. 

First, Iran provided military advisory assistance for the two countries and later it supported the two states with military supplies and weapons.
Iran’s involvement in the fight against terrorism in Iraq and Syria demonstrated that the world had yet to fully wake up to the extreme dangers these terrorist groups posed. Also, in combating such madness and extremism, Iran could show off its willingness to aid embattled neighbors.
Malicious people from many countries had come together in Iraq and Syria to loot, slaughter, and seize territory, and today, the same terrorists are still committing crimes in every corner of the globe, creating a climate of insecurity, but the Islamic Republic stepped in to defend legitimate governments in the region. 

The U.S., taking advantage of and assisting terrorist groups, continues its support for extremists with weapons and advice.
Meanwhile, Iran, after the victory of the revolution, has never invaded any country for its own territorial expansion and resources. Iran’s Islamic Republic has long sided with oppressed nations and stood against the domination of arrogant Western powers and their proxies, particularly in Iraq and Syria. Iran has sacrificed to keep the Resistance Front intact, because otherwise the Zionist regime would have its way in the Mideast. 

In recent crises, the Zionist regime has profited from the mayhem at little cost as it watched the bloodshed. Today, although Daesh has literally lost ground in the region, its ideology lingers on. Daesh is a terribly irrational and radical take on Islam, and in fact is not truly Islamic at all. 

For now, Daesh has been reduced by not entirely eliminated.  Islamic states from the Caucasus to Central Asia to Malaysia and Southeast Asia still consider themselves threatened by ISIL. But the threat is not limited to them. Europe, too, is at risk. The U.S., the Zionist regime and Saudi Arabia are all still pushing ISIL. 

Iran has no underlying agenda in the reconstruction of post-war Syria, but is experienced in war reconstruction projects, and if the Syrian government puts in a request, Iran will certainly lend a helping hand. Damascus could provide conditions for Iranian private sectors to help rebuild Syria. There have been talks about giving Iranian construction companies priority to help Syria rebuild. 

As for Israel, there is no need to try to destroy the Zionist regime as it may eventually destroy itself. As Iran’s Supreme Leader said, “Israel will no longer exist in 25 years”. Today, Israelis are grappling with an identity crisis as many Jews, especially outside Israel, don’t identify with the current political stance in Occupied Palestine.  

The Zionist regime no longer retains the image and power that it possessed before the 33-day war on Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the 22-day war on the Gaza Strip. Many Palestinians and Lebanese are in high spirits in the fight against the Zionist regime, and the regime may be apprehensive about any full scale aggressions. 
Today, the Zionists must face the harsh reality that emerging trends could eventually bring an end to Israeli aggression in and beyond Palestine.