Terror groups such as Islamic State and al-Qaeda and lingering conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq were products of American adventurism in West and South Asia, Iran said on Thursday. It was responding to to allegations of terrorism made by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday here. In a strongly worded statement, Iran said the U.S.’s misunderstanding of the ground reality had hurt the U.S.’s ties with the rest of the world and called for dialogue on difficult issues.
“The rise of extremist groups like Taliban, Al-Qaeda, ISIS are contemporary demonstrations of U.S. adventurism. The crises in our region, including in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Yemen, are rooted in the occupation, illegal military interventions, hegemonic and social engineering policies of the United States,” said the statement issued by a spokesperson at the Embassy of Iran.
Mike Pompeo, during his press conference with Union External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, had described Iran as the “biggest” sponsor of terrorism. His description is at variance with India’s ongoing war on cross-border terrorism that emanates from Pakistani territories. Iran, in the recent past, also had to deal with extremist groups that operate from the Pakistani terrain.
Iran said that the U.S., through its actions and utterances, was trying to sow seeds of hostilities among friendly countries and described sanctions as a “brutal form of terrorism.” The statement claimed that ties between the U.S. and the rest of the world were affected by the U.S.’s actions, saying “miscalculations and wrong understanding of the U.S. administration towards other nations and many international and regional issues have aggravated the situation between the U.S. and the rest of world.”
The official Iranian state claimed that Tehran was a victim of terrorism and urged for “regional dialogue” in the Persian Gulf region for ensuring the national security of stakeholders.
