File photo of terrorist US forces in Iraq (Photo by AFP)

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman has reacted to the United States’ naming of Iran as one of the countries not cooperating with the US’ counterterrorism efforts, saying as a state sponsor of terrorism, Washington is barely qualified to assess other countries’ anti-terror efforts.

Iran’s name appeared on the list provided by the US State Department on Wednesday, alongside those of North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Cuba as countries not cooperating fully with US counterterrorism efforts.

Abbas Mousavi responded on Thursday by tweeting, With a history of founding, funding & arming different terrorist groups, a record of state terrorism, and its outright support for another terrorist regime, US is not a good yardstick for measuring anti-terrorism efforts.

He marked the tweet with the US_must_stop_its_state_terrorism hashtag.

The spokesman was referring to Washington’s notoriety for propping up various terrorist outfits across the world, including the Daesh Takfiri group, its litany of unauthorized military invasions and operations worldwide, and its unwavering support for the Israeli regime that is engaged in daily acts of deadly aggression against the Palestinians and regional countries.

In 2019, the year that was the focus of the State Department’s statement, the US took its anti-Iran and pro-terrorism efforts to a new level by blacklisting Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) that has played a central role in quelling foreign-backed terror groups, especially Daesh, throughout the region.

This year, however, Washington provided regional terrorists with their biggest boost yet by assassinating General Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Quds Force of the IRGC, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).

General Soleimani, the region’s most respected anti-terror figure, was on an official visit to Baghdad while the assassinations took place upon an order by US President Donald Trump in early January.

The State Department singled out Iran’s support for the Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah and Iraqi counterterrorism groups for criticism. The former has been steadfastly standing up to Tel Aviv’s aggression targeting Lebanon, while the latter is indispensable to Baghdad’s fight against Daesh.

The Department, therefore, concluded that the Islamic Republic should be denied export of defense articles and services.

The statement came amid a push by Washington to extend an arms embargo against Iran that will expire in October under a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers.

Washington is illegally prohibited from seeking prolongation of the embargo as it unilaterally and unlawfully left the nuclear accord two years ago.

SOURCE: PRESS TV