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Tehran Mocks Anti-Jihadist Front Without Damascus

Tehran ridiculed an international conference on the jihadist threat that opened in Paris on Monday, insisting the Islamic State cannot be defeated without the support of its ally Damascus.

Neither Iran nor Syria were invited to the meeting in the French capital, despite the Damascus government's involvement in almost daily military action against IS.

"The best way of fighting IS and terrorism in the region is to help and strengthen the Iraqi and Syrian governments, which have been engaged in a serious struggle against terrorism," deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told a visiting French lawmaker.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has not been waiting for the formation of an international coalition -- it has been carrying out its obligations," he told foreign affairs committee chairwoman Patricia Adam, the ISNA news agency reported.

Washington has been strongly opposed to Shiite Iran's involvement in the coalition it has been building to fight the jihadists in Iraq and neighboring Syria for fear of alienating Sunni governments, particularly regional heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday that Washington opposed Tehran's participation because of its "engagement in Syria and elsewhere".

The deputy foreign minister is the latest in a string of Iranian officials to criticize U.S. efforts to wage war against the jihadists, who have seized a big chunk of eastern Syria and northern and north-central Iraq.

Iranian officials charge that it was Gulf Arab and U.S. support for the rebels fighting to overthrow the Syrian regime since 2011 that paved the way for the rise of IS.

They say that only a change of policy toward the Damascus regime by Washington and its Gulf Arab allies can turn the tables.

U.S. President Barack Obama announced last Wednesday that he had authorized the expansion to Syria of the U.S. air campaign against IS he launched in early August.

There have been no U.S. strikes so far but Obama's announcement, which was made in defiance of the Syrian government, drew protests from Damascus and its Iranian and Russian allies.

Washington has long backed the rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad.

Source: Agence France Presse


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