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Iran’s foreign minister ruled out co-operation with the United States in helping Iraq fight the Islamic State (Isis) on Wednesday.
Mohammad Javad Zarif (pictured) warned that the terrorist group posed a broad global threat that could not be eradicated without new thinking.
Iran had serious doubts about the ability of the US to react seriously to the “menace” from Isis “across the board” and not just pick and choose where to confront it, Mr Zarif said.
“This is a very mobile organisation,” he told the Council on Foreign Relations.
“This is not a threat against a single community or a single region.
“It was not confined to Syria, nor will it be confined to Iraq. It is a global threat.”
France had wanted Iran to attend an international conference in Paris aimed at co-ordinating actions in Iraq, but the US vetoed its presence.
Mr Zarif called the 24 participating nations at the Paris conference “a coalition of repenters,” reminding reporters that most had supported Isis “in one form or another” from its inception.
At the end of the day, he said, they had created “a Frankenstein that has now come to haunt its creators.”
Iran’s assistance helped Iraq prevent Isis from taking over Baghdad and the Kurdish capital Irbil, Mr Zarif claimed, adding that it was now time for the international community “and particularly the coalition of repenters,” to stop providing finance, equipment and safe passage for the group.
Mr Zarif said the international community must begin to deal with the resentment and disenfranchisement that allowed the group to attract young people from the Middle East, Europe and the US.
The international community, he said, must also recognise that in a globalised world, problems could not be solved through coercion, exclusion or imposed solutions.
In Iraq, where the US is carrying out air strikes, Mr Zarif said, “it will not be eradicated through aerial bombardment.”
And in Syria, where the US is beefing up military support for the opposition to confront Isis while increasing its opposition to President Bashar Assad’s government, he said, “you cannot fight Isis and the government in Damascus together.”
