Iraq national security adviser: Iran ‘may have employed Daesh politically’

Iran may be using the global threat generated by Daesh in order to make political gains, a senior Iraqi national security adviser suggested this afternoon.

Speaking to MEMO during a trip to London, Faleh Al-Fayyad, chairman of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) committee and an MP since 2005, stressed that he had “not seen any evidence connecting Iran to Daesh”.

However, he said he could not discount the possibility that Iran “may have employed Daesh politically, just as Assad uses the Al-Nusra Front [Jabhat Fath Al-Sham]”, suggesting that Iran may be benefiting politically and strategically from the impact caused by the global terrorist organisation.

There was no suggestion that Al-Fayyad believed that Iran was directly supporting Daesh in any way.

Instead, he directly accused neighbouring countries of supporting Daesh, singling out Turkey and Saudi Arabia for criticism.

Suggesting that Turkey was supportive of Daesh, Al-Fayyad said that “Daesh fighters were based in and came from Gaziantep”, in reference to the southern Turkish city, adding that he had evidence to prove his assertions, though he did not state what that evidence was.

Al-Fayyad continued by accusing Saudi Arabia of fomenting sectarian terrorism as he claimed that it was “a totalitarian regime that derives their legitimacy by using economic prosperity [to control its citizens]”, adding that Saudi Arabia was now suffering from “a decrease in resources and so is resorting to sectarianism” in order to create an enemy that its population could rally against.

Without providing evidence, the Iraqi MP went on to say that the environment in Saudi accommodates a “Takfiri-Salafist ideology” that is encouraged “in mosques and charities” run by the oil-rich kingdom.

Daesh was funded with “money that has the smell of oil on it,” he added.

Saudi Arabia is a member of the international US-led coalition against Daesh, and also set up the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism (IMAFT), a coalition of Muslim-majority states, to combat international terrorism and extremism in December 2015. Iran was notably not invited to join this Saudi-led effort.