Al-Monitor - Spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry Abbas Mousavi downplayed the significance of the US operation that led to the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. “From our viewpoint this action was not a major one because Daesh [IS] had already been defeated by us and regional countries,” Mousavi said on Iranian state television Oct. 28.

Claiming that even US officials have admitted that IS terrorists and their network came about as a result of US actions, Mousavi continued, “These groups and individuals have an expiration date for the Americans and whenever their expiration date arrives, they are destroyed.”

Addressing IS' presence in Syria, Iraq and the threat it poses to the region, he said, “Unfortunately, the mentality of terrorism and sectarianism is alive and countries like America use it for their own goals. Therefore we do not see the killing of Baghdadi as the end of Daesh.” Espousing the conspiracy theory that the United States is actively behind IS, Mousavi added, “Even though we defeated Daesh we are warning that this mentality is still alive and it’s possible their remnants are organized by the Americans in the region.”

Mousavi said that more such actions “for domestic purposes” will take place as the US election approaches.

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