New IS Threat Requires Shift in National Defense Strategy

A senior lawmaker says the regrouping of the self-styled Islamic State terrorist group toward Afghanistan requires the strengthening of Iran's defense strategy along its eastern borders.  

In a recent interview with ISNA, Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, spokesman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said, "Daesh [IS] has lost its territories in Iraq and Afghanistan and has now directed its attention to Afghanistan where the United States is militarily controlling the situation and has given the terrorist group a safe corridor." 

"Iran's defense strategy should now be focused on the eastern borders and appropriate measures must be taken to stop Daesh from wielding any influence there," he said.

IS has significantly increased its bombing and terror operations in Afghanistan in recent months with several deadly explosions rocking the capital Kabul claiming many lives.

On January 30, Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the US is trying to relocate IS from Iraq to Afghanistan to achieve its objectives.

"The same hands that created Daesh as a tool to oppress and commit crimes against people in Syria and Iraq are today seeking to move Daesh to Afghanistan after its defeat in those areas," the Leader said, adding that the recent killings mark the beginning of the execution of the US plot. 

A week later AP reported that dozens of American soldiers have been transported from Iraq to Afghanistan on daily flights after an agreement reached with the Iraqi government to draw down the number of US troops stationed there. 

  Zero Tolerance on Terror 

Hosseini warned that Iran "would certainly not tolerate such a terrorist group near its borders," saying that the country has the means and will to eradicate the group from the region.

He pointed to the successful Iran-Russia-Turkey coalition that was instrumental in defusing the war in Syria, adding that "this coalition is not limited to Syria and can be used in Afghanistan as well."

The parliamentarian described the foreign-backed IS as a spent force that could not reach its divisive objectives in Iraq and Syria and noted that its relocation to Afghanistan would end in failure too.

"Those who created Daesh, the terrorist group that lives on spilling blood, thought it could create tensions and religious discord in Iran, but their efforts have all fallen flat so far," Hosseini concluded.