Tehran: The Iranian president said on Tuesday that his country’s military is the most reliable force to take on “terrorists in the region” — a reference to Daesh.
“Today, the largest power against intimidation and terror is our armed forces,” Hassan Rouhani said at a massive annual military parade in Tehran.
Rouhani said Iranian troops are willing to help both Iraq and Syria in the struggle against Daesh terrorists, but insisted Tehran has no military intentions toward other nations.
Rouhani’s speech was broadcast live on state TV.
He says that if the “terrorists begin to expand in the region, the only hope will be Iran’s army and the Revolutionary Guards.”
Rouhani said Middle East nations should not put too much faith in “Western powers as their defenders.”
Iran has played a major role in the fight against Daesh in neighbouring Iraq independently of the US-led coalition.
It has provided military advisers, weapons and trainers to both the Iraqi army and Shiite militias.
But Rouhani’s allusion was not only to the militants of Daesh.
In the conflict in Syria, Tehran has been a staunch ally of the regime of President Bashar Al Assad against Western-backed rebels as well as Daesh and Al Qaida.
“We helped the armies and governments of Iraq and Syria, at their request,” Rouhani said.
The parade marked the 35th anniversary of the start of Iran’s devastating 1980-1988 war with Saddam Hussain’s Iraq.
Iran has been deeply critical of the US-led campaign against Daesh, charging that it was the support of the West and its allies for the rebellion in Syria that paved the way for the rise of the terrorists.
