Iran still top state sponsor of terror: US

washington — Iran continues to be the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, the Trump administration said on Wednesday in a new report that also noted a decline in the number of terrorist attacks globally between 2015 and 2016.

In its annual Country Reports on Terrorism released on Wednesday, the State Department said Iran was the planet’s “foremost” state sponsor of terrorism in 2016, a dubious distinction the country has held for many years.

It said Iran was firm in its backing of anti-Israel groups as well as proxies that have destabilised already devastating conflicts in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. It also said Iran continued to recruit in Afghanistan and Pakistan for militia members to fight in Syria and Iraq. And, it said Iranian support for Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement was unchanged.

In terms of non-state actors, the report said the Daesh group was responsible for more attacks and deaths than any other group in 2016. —

tehran — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that Tehran would “respond appropriately” to new US sanctions but that Iran remained committed to its nuclear deal with world powers.

“Iran will always stick to its international commitments,” Rouhani said in a televised cabinet meeting. But if the US wants “to press forward with new sanctions under any pretext... the great nation of Iran will respond appropriately,” he said.

“We will not forgive violations by the Americans and we will stand against them.”

His comments came a day after the US and Iran traded tit-fortat sanctions over the Islamic republic’s ballistic missile programme.

The State Department slapped sanctions on 18 individuals and entities in Iran. — AFP