Iran FM says regional help, intl. supports needed to eradicate ISIL

TEHRAN, Sep. 20 (MNA) – Iran’s FM has said regional assistance and international supports are necessary to help eradicate ISIL in Iraq and Syria. In an interview with the PBS channel in the US, Mohammad Javad Zarif said that ISIL is a threat for all in the region and beyond, adding that “the international community should come to realize that this is a common threat, a common challenge, and it requires a common response.” He asserted that any help should be by the international community and regional countries “not the other way around.” “What the international community needs to do is to prevent assistance to the terrorists, which has been coming, unfortunately, over the past three, four years from various quarters in the region and outside the region and the Iraqis themselves are quite capable of liberating their territory,” said Zarif. Foreign minister further said that "the Islamic Republic is not convinced the US is serious fighting terrorism in the region so Iran will not cooperate on that with the US." He pointed to the recent US House of Senate act, approving Obama’s request for financing the Syrian opposition terrorists and said it was on contrast with attempts to fight terrorism. Zarif said that "undermining the central government does not correspond with attempts to fight terrorism in the same country which does not help the process of democratization and respect for the will of the people in Syria in the recent presidential elections." Mohammad Javad Zarif and Iranian nuclear negotiators have been in New York since Monday for talks on Tehran nuclear issue.