Iran’s top security official says the US is encouraging ISIS by dropping bombs on paramilitary fighters along the Iraqi border.
“America’s recent action strengthens and expands the activities of terrorist Daesh (Islamic State) in the region,” Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said during a visit with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.
The airstrikes late Thursday, the first under President Biden, targeted sites on the Syrian side of the Iraqi-Syrian border, where Iran-backed groups control an important crossing for weapons, personnel and goods. The administration said it intended to discourage future attacks on US troops in Iraq.
“The attack on anti-terrorist resistance forces is the beginning of a new round of organized terrorism,” Hussein told Reuters.
Shamkhani said: “We will confront the US plan to relaunch terrorism in the region,” but he did not elaborate.
Shamkhani pressured Hussein for Iran to tell the US to withdraw the rest of its troops from the country, according to reports.