Basij Commander Blames US for Volatile Situation in Iraq

Commander of Iran’s Basij (volunteer) Force Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi said the recent attacks by the terrorist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Iraq are a new US plot to create discord among the Iraqi people.
“The scene they have created in Iraq is the result of the United States’ behind-the-scene attempts to sow discord and they are certainly the main mastermind of these events,” Naqdi said in the Northern city of Ramsar on Wednesday.

He said that the US and its allies attach so much importance to Iraq’s oil resources that they would do anything within their capacity to protect it.

In relevant remarks last Wednesday, Naqdi condemned the crimes committed by the terrorist Takfiri and Salafi groups in the region, and said these crimes are supported by the western states and certain oil-rich Arab countries.

“These (Takfiri) streams that introduce Shiites as infidels, issue decree for their killing, commit crimes and massacre innocent people under the pretext of (obeying) Islam and differences (between Shiite and Sunni Islam) in their fatwas (religious decrees) say nothing but lies,” Naqdi said in the Southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan.

He said that the Takfiri groups commit crimes in line with the ominous goals of the arrogant powers and obey the western and Israeli think tanks as they are supported by certain regional Arab countries’ petrodollars.

Also on Monday, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani in a meeting with Prime Minister of Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Nechirvan Barzani took the western and regional states responsible for the current crisis in Iraq.

“The current crisis in Iraq is the result of the meddling and collaboration of the western and regional enemies of the Iraqi nation, who are seeking to prevent the Iraqi people’s will and determination from coming into action,” Shamkhani said during the meeting in Tehran.

He called on Iraqi Kurds, Shiites and Sunnis to become united and defend their country to restore peace, tranquility and security to their country and ward off the danger of terrorism and its spread to the region.

Barzani, for his part, elaborated on the situation in Iraq after the start of the ongoing bloodshed by the terrorists of the ISIL, and said the Iraqi Kurdistan region will use all its capacities to maintain Iraq’s integrity and solidarity and won’t allow inhumane actions of the terrorists to affect the country’s unity and solidarity.