ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Major General Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards’ Quds Force, on Tuesday described the Islamic State as the protégé of the United States and blamed Washington for creating the jihadist group and using it to keep Muslims in danger.
"The US intends to protect ISIS to make Muslims need the US and it has, in fact, turned it into leverage against Muslims," Soleimani a gathering of Iran's Assembly of Experts in Tehran.
Soleimani said US strategies have failed in Iraq and Syria because of Iran’s strategies.
Soleimani has reportedly been involved in the fighting in Syria, where Iran has been backing the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, Tehran’s closest Arab ally.
The general has been under a UN travel ban and asset freeze since 2007. Last year, the UN said that his presence in Iraq, to reportedly oversee the liberation of Tkrit, was in violation of the Security Council ban.
