Iran blames US for creating ISIS amid worsening Middle East tensions
By James Griffiths and Hamdi Alkhshali, CNN
Updated 4:22 AM ET, Tue June 13, 2017
“That (the) US arms a terrorist group is what causes instability,” Khameini wrote on Twitter Monday. “Who created ISIS? The US!”
He added that while US President Donald Trump accuses Iran of supporting terrorists, “terrorism in this region has American roots.”
Trump last week responded to terrorist
attacks in the Iranian capital of Tehran by warning “states that sponsor
terrorism risk falling victim to the evil they promote,” a reaction described as “repugnant” by Iran’s foreign minister.
Those attacks, which left at least 12 people dead, were claimed by ISIS.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards, a powerful branch of the country’s military, vowed revenge for the attacks and blamed them on longstanding regional rival Saudi Arabia.
ISIS has its roots in al Qaeda in Iraq, which took part in the insurgency that followed the 2003 US-led invasion of the country.
While Saudi Arabia has been threatened by the group, officials in the region and their Western counterparts have claimed ISIS receives funding from backers inside the Kingdom as well as from other rich Middle Eastern countries.
Qatar crisis
Khamenei’s comments come as tensions in the Middle East are among their highest in years,
following the cutting of ties between major regional powers led by
Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, which has been accused of supporting terrorism
in the region.
Qatar has been ejected from the
Saudi-led coalition fighting Houthis in Yemen, and transport links
between it and three other Gulf countries have been severed, with
Qataris living in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE ordered to leave.
Turkey and Iran have stepped into the gap, raising the specter of a reshuffling of alliances in the Gulf region.
Qatar’s Foreign Minister Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman Al Thani said Monday that the country’s government still has
“no clue what are the main reasons behind all these measures.”
Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain accuse
Qatar of supporting terrorism networks in the region. UAE Foreign
Minister Anwar Gargash, and key architect of the blockade on Qatar told
CNN’s John Defterios that Qatar offers “very, very huge logistical,
financial support for extremist groups.“
“There is no more trust,” he said, adding, “it is time for cooler heads to restructure Qatar’s approach on foreign policy.”
Gulf leaders have also been critical of
Qatar’s relatively neutral stance on Iran, which they view as a prime
destabilizing force in the region.
The diplomatic rift came two weeks after
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt blocked several Qatari media
outlets, including Al Jazeera, over comments allegedly made by Qatari
Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Al Thani reportedly hailed Iran as an
“Islamic power” and criticized US President Donald Trump’s policy
towards Tehran. Qatar said the official news agency which reported the
comments was hacked — and on June 6, US officials told CNN that US
investigators believe Russian hackers were behind it.
Two large regional powers on either side
of the Sunni-Shiite Islamic sectarian divide, Saudi Arabia and Iran
have been engaged in a longstanding cold war, tussling for influence in
countries in their sphere of influence, especially Syria, Lebanon and
Yemen, where Saudi-led bombing has left thousands of civilians dead.
Qatar and Iran share the largest underwater natural gas field in the world. But recent Gulf reports have charged the
relationship goes beyond resource management, accusing Qatari officials
of meeting with the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.
But al Thani disputed that Monday,
saying that “if the problem is Iran, why have those measures been taken
against Qatar, why not taken against Iran?”
Seeking a solution
Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia are major US allies, and have close ties to European powers. But while Trump has signaled support for Riyadh
despite efforts by the Pentagon and State Department to remain neutral,
his European counterparts have been active in trying to tamp down
tensions.
Al Thani praised French President
Emmanuel Macron Monday for being “very active” in attempting to find a
“solution to the problem.”
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson,
who is currently in the Gulf for a series of meetings, on Monday “urged
all sides (to) refrain from any further escalation and to engage in
mediation efforts.”
Johnson encouraged Qatar to “take
seriously their neighbors’ concerns” but also expressed alarm at the
blockading of the country and called for it to be eased.
“Qatar is a partner of the UK in the
fight against terrorism but they urgently need to do more to address
support for extremist groups, building on the steps they have already
taken,” Johnson said.
CNN’s Katie Polglase and Katie Hunt contributed reporting.