Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi, who serves as top military advisor to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, said Tuesday that the U.S.-led coalition lacks the sufficient power and capability to counter the Takfiri terrorists, Press TV reports.
The general, who was addressing a gathering at the Defense Ministry, dismissed claims by Western governments that the coalition’s airstrikes have helped Iraqi government repel ISIL terrorists from some towns and villages.
Safavi said Iraq has made the gains against ISIL by using its volunteer forces and also the military consultations that have been provided by Tehran.
"Currently, the coalition that has been formed against ISIL actually lacks the offensive power,” he said, adding that it is Iran’s consultations to the Iraqi government that have made it capable of attacking ISIL.
Safavi, who served as commander of Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) between 1997 and 2007, also touched upon the current situation in Syria, saying that the Western governments and their allies have failed in their plots to overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad.
"Iran and Russia united and did not allow the U.S., Europe, and some Arab countries in the region to achieve their malicious goals [in Syria],” he said.
The United States and some of its allies have been conducting airstrikes against ISIL positions in Iraq since early August 2014. The attacks also began to cover some parts of Syria in September that year, although the move was not made upon authorization by the government in Damascus, which slammed it as a blatant violation of Syria’s sovereignty.
From the very inception of the aerial campaign, Iran questioned the effectiveness and legitimacy of the coalition in dealing with ISIL in Iraq. Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said in early September that, "There are severe misgivings about the determination and sincerity of the coalition in fighting the root causes of terrorism.”