Rouhani: Without Iran's Help, ISIS Would Have Triumphed in Damascus and Baghdad

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani stated that if the Islamic Republic had not assisted Syria and Iraq in combating the Islamic State (ISIS), "today we would be facing a terrorist state instead of a terrorist group." In a conference in Tehran on Saturday, April 23, he remarked, "When terrorists were attempting to overthrow Baghdad and Damascus, Iran responded positively to the call for help from its neighbors. Without Iran, ISIS, meaning the state of Iraq and Sham, would have effectively come into existence, and they would have triumphed in both Damascus and Baghdad." Rouhani added that under such circumstances, "today we would be facing a terrorist state instead of a terrorist group." On the same day, Mahmoud Alavi, Iran's Minister of Intelligence, also stated in an interview with Al-Mayadeen TV that "if Iran had not confronted terrorists in Syria and Iraq, we would have had to fight them in the western provinces of our country." Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council, emphasized last October at the funeral of Hossein Hamadani, a slain commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria, that Iran's security "is not limited to our borders, and we must be present in Syria to maintain Iran's security." Ali Shamkhani, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, stated in January 2015 at the funeral of Hamid Taghavi, a slain commander of the IRGC in Iraq, that "if the Taghavis do not shed blood in Samarra, we must shed blood in Sistan, Azerbaijan, Shiraz, and Isfahan." Alavi also mentioned that ISIS has attempted "several times" to send terrorist groups to Iran. He noted that some of these groups were targeted during the 10th parliamentary elections, and a large explosives manufacturing workshop was discovered. On Sunday, March 1, 2016, he reported the arrest of a "terrorist agent" at the southeastern borders and a four-member team at the western borders, who intended to carry out "terrorist" operations in Iran during the parliamentary elections. Alavi did not specify any names or groups at that time. Subsequently, Hossein Zolfaqari, Deputy Minister of Interior for Security, also stated without details that "several terrorist groups" had planned "sabotage" during the elections, and "five groups" of them were destroyed in the last two months of the year in the east, south, and southwest of the country.