US seeks to create division among Middle East states: Iran official

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani says the United States seeks to create division among the countries in the Middle East.

The United States pursues as its most important objective a policy of creating and developing grounds for destructive rivalry based on balance of power among regional countries, Shamkhani said in an address to the Core Group Meeting of the Munich Security Conference (MSC) in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Saturday.

He added that the West Asia region is widely affected by the Israeli regime’s suppression of the Palestinians, the spread of terrorism in Syria and Iraq, and Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against Yemen.

Commenting on the anti-terror cooperation among Iran, Iraq, Russia and Syria, the Iranian official said the cooperation among four countries offers an example of the real fight against terrorism.

The SNSC’s secretary said recent achievements by the Syrian army against terrorist groups have proven that the so-called US-led coalition against what has been said to be the Takfiri terrorists has failed to achieve its goals.

On Saturday, the Syrian army took full control over the hilltops overlooking the city of Harasta, located about 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of the capital, Damascus, as well as those behind Douma, located about 10 kilometers (six miles) northeast of the capital.

Syrian armed forces also launched a large-scale military offensive against Takfiri terrorists in the southern countryside of Aleppo, northwestern Syria, on Friday.

The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared in March 2011, has claimed the lives of more than 250,000 people and left over one million injured, according to the United Nations.

Shamkhani also said diplomacy was the most effective means for the resolution of regional crises.