Setbacks in Mideast Behind UK's Anti-Iran Stance

A senior lawmaker said the recent remarks of British Prime Minister Theresa May against the Islamic Republic are driven by London's desperation and setbacks in the Middle East.

"The US and Britain are the creators of the ominous phenomenon of Daesh [an Arabic acronym for the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group] in the region," Chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi told state television on Monday, Press TV reported. 

He noted that Iran is fighting terrorism and has a strong military advisory presence in Iraq and Syria to assist in the campaign against terrorists at the request of the two countries' governments.

The top legislator said such military advisory presence in Damascus and Baghdad has caused great concerns among countries that have created IS, including Britain.

  Evil Leverage 

The creators of the IS terrorist group were worried about the possibility of losing the "evil leverage" of terrorism, he said. 

"Britain must know that we are very serious about countering terrorists and will not allow the US and Britain to use this evil leverage against the interests of regional nations."

Addressing the US Republican lawmakers in Philadelphia on Thursday a day before meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House, the British prime minister warned about "Iran's malign influence in the Middle East".

It is a priority for London to push back on "Iran's aggressive efforts" to increase its "arc of influence from Tehran through to the Mediterranean", May claimed.

She also used tough language on the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and major powers, including Britain, and said while the deal was "controversial" it had been successful in neutralizing the alleged threat posed by Iran. Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council—the United States, France, Britain, Russia and China plus Germany—signed the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, on July 14, 2015, and began implementing it on January 16, 2016.

Under the nuclear agreement, Iran undertook to put limitations on its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of nuclear-related sanctions.

The Islamic Republic has always, both before and after the signing of the nuclear deal, stressed that its nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.