Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari slammed the US State Department’s global terrorism report which claimed Tehran was a supporter of terrorism. Iran is itself one of the major victims of terrorism, he said pointing to 17,000 Iranian nationals that have been killed in terrorist attacks.
The Iranian foreign ministry noted its role in neighbouring Iraq supporting the government against the Islamic State jihadist group independently of a US-led coalition as well as its backing for the Syrian regime against jihadists and other rebels, some of them backed by Saudi Arabia.
The US "turns a blind eye to the broad political and financial support by Saudi Arabia and its other allies to this ominous phenomenon in the world," Ansari said.
"While US allies in the region in various ways support Daesh and other terrorist groups, Iran is at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in Iraq and Syria," the Daily Mail cited him as saying.
In its latest annual report published on Thursday, the US State Department said Iran had boosted its support for Palestinian militant groups in Gaza last year, as well as Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah which has deployed thousands of fighters to Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
