Iran security head claims US seeks to resurrect Islamic State

A top Iranian official attributed the ouster of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq to Tehran-backed militias while claiming that Washington seeks to revive the extremist group.
ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images
Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, speaks during a meeting of the national security secretaries of Afghanistan, China, Iran, India and Russia in the Iranian capital Tehran on Sept. 26, 2018. - ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images
Al Monitor: The Pulse of the Middle East
Al-Monitor Staff

The secretary of Iran's powerful Supreme National Security Council has said the United States is seeking to resurrect the Islamic State across Iraq and Syria.

Ali Shamkhani gave credit for IS' "defeat" to "the resistance front," an umbrella term Iran applies to a network of proxies it funds and arms across the Middle East. "America is deeply infuriated" by such victory, Shamkhani declared.

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