Iran to Take Action If ISIL Gets Close to Borders: Interior Minister
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli underlined that if the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group nears the Iranian territories, the country will militarily intervene in the fight against them.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Rahmani Fazli pointed to the possible threats posed by the ISIL militants to Iran's borders with Iraq and reiterated the preparedness of the country's forces to counter the threats.
"We have already announced that if ISIL nears (areas) about 40 kilometers from our borders and seeks to commit sabotage, Iran will definitely intervene," Rahmani Fazli said.
The ISIL, as a Takfiri group in Iraq and Syria, is believed to be supported by the West and some regional Arab countries.
The terrorist group claims as an independent state the territory of Iraq and Syria, with implied future claims intended over more of the Levant, including Lebanon, occupied Palestine, Jordan, Cyprus, and Southern Turkey.
The ISIL militants made swift advances in much of northern and western Iraq last summer, after capturing large swaths of northern Syria.
However, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and the volunteer forces, who rushed to take arms after top Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling for fight against the militants, have blunted the edge of the ISIL offensive.
