TEHRAN - Ayatollah Khamenei says by relocating Daesh from Iraq and Syria to Afghanistan, the United States is pursuing its objectives in the region.
Reacting to the recent spate of deadly attacks in Afghanistan, the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said the US is moving Daesh fighters from Iraq and Syria to Afghanistan in order to justify its presence in the region.
“The very same hands that created Daesh to use it as an instrument for oppression and crime against the people of Syria and Iraq, now and after facing defeat in the regions, are seeking to relocate Daesh to Afghanistan,” the leader said, adding that recent killings signify the start of the plot, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported.
He said that in recent weeks, Daesh has carried out a series of deadly attacks in Afghanistan.
“By transferring Daesh terror group from Iraq and Syria to Afghanistan, the US seeks to justify the continuation of its presence in the region and to create security for the Zionist regime,” he said on Tuesday.
Khamenei said Americans were the main factor behind insecurity in Afghanistan and that all killings which have occurred in the name of religion for the past 20 years, are directly or indirectly linked to the United States.
Relations between the Islamic Republic and the US have strained since the Islamic revolution in the country in 1978, reported Tasnim.
The US accuses Iran of supporting terrorists. Iran is also accused of having contacts with the Taliban.
The remarks come a week after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) engaged in deadly battles with Daesh militants in western parts of the country. (Tolo News)