Resurgence of IS Terror a Possibility

Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi said Muslim nations ought to work toward eliminating the factors enabling the spread of extremis thoughts, otherwise they should expect the resurgence of the self-styled Islamic State "caliphate" in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Speaking in an anti-terror conference in Tehran on Tuesday, Alavi said regional countries should be wary of a second coming of the terror outfit, IRNA reported.

"Terrorist elements have received sharp blows and are frustrated, but we should be careful not to allow a revival of the group," he said.

The terror group managed to bring under control large areas in Syria after the ongoing conflict erupted there in 2011. After they captured large swathes of Iraq in a lightning offensive in 2014, the group's leader Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi announced it was time to resurrect the "caliphate" system and declared himself the caliph of Muslims.

But the recapture of their last urban strongholds in Iraq and Syria last month prompted Iranian officials to declare the end of the self-proclaimed "caliphate".

"IS no longer holds land or runs a government, but it is after reviving its caliphate in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Central Asia or elsewhere," Alavi said.

The intelligence chief said extremism is the root cause of terrorism and regional countries cannot prevent a repeat of the IS nightmare unless they work to eliminate pretexts that influences youths to embrace extremist ideologies. IS and many other terrorist groups operating in the region, including Al-Qaeda, are inspired by Wahhabism, an extreme ideological strand of Islam openly preached by Saudi Arabian clerics with the blessing of the ruling Saudi authorities.

Saudi Arabia and some other Persian Gulf Arab states are believed to be the main sources of funding for the Wahhabi terrorist entities.