'ISIL can't be defeated by air strikes alone'

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is a dangerous phenomenon, but the terrorist organisation can not be defeated by air strikes alone, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said.

"It's a very dangerous phenomenon, and we all need to be aware of how to deal with this issue. It will not be eradicated through aerial bombardment, because we need new tools to deal with these new realities," Zarif said at an event organised by the Council on Foreign Relations, a top American think tank in Washington.

Zarif said that Iran would not hesitate in providing support to its friends, to deal with this menace.

"We believe that we need to deal with this menace. This is not a threat against a singular community, nor a threat against a singular region," he said.

"It was not confined to Syria, nor will it be confined to Iraq. It's a global threat.

"There are thousands of foreign fighters in Iraq and Syria. And they come from all over the world.

And that is why they have very little mercy for the people they occupy and they rule over," the top Iranian diplomat said.

The Iranian foreign minister was also highly critical of the US-led international coalition against ISIS.

"I would call (it) a coalition of repenters, because most participants in that meeting in one form or another provided support to ISIS in the course of its creation and upbringing and expansion, actually at the end of the day, creating a Frankenstein that came to haunt its creators," he said.

Zarif said Iran has played a central role in dealing with ISIS.

"I wouldn't call it Islamic State, because it's neither Islamic, as President Obama rightly pointed out, nor a state. It's a terrorist organisation, a sophisticated terrorist organisation that has come to being because of a number of reasons," he said.

The challenge of ISIS is certainly one challenge that has arisen, because of this lack of understanding of the new realities in the region, he said.

"This group is using social media probably in a more sophisticated way than many in the West know how to use it. They have a purpose. They have an agenda to advance. They use brutality in order to attract followers," he added.

"You have to look at the reason why, according to a poll, 16 per cent of the French population do not disapprove of ISIS and the brutality that it engages in.

"You have to see what disenfranchisement has done to the people so that they'll be prepared to accept that type of savagery and prepared to not condone, but at least not object to that type of savagery," he said.

We need to look at the problems that have given rise to these very difficult and disturbing developments, Zarif said, adding that they can't fight ISIS and the government in Damascus together.

"Had it not been for the resistance of the government in Damascus, now you would not have the situation where Mr Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi be ruling this source of so-called Islamic State or IS."

"And that is because of the inherent flaw in a projection of an image that the United States created for itself and entrenched itself in a position by creating red lines and announcing red lines that made it impossible to deal with this menace directly and seriously," he said.

"You cannot have this situation. I heard Secretary (of State, John) Kerry talking about terrorist magnets, Bashar al-Assad being terrorist magnet.

"If that argument applies, this institution, this organisation was created after the United States invaded Iraq. So the terrorist magnet should be sought somewhere else, rather than in Bashar al-Assad," Zarif said.

Asserting that the United States is obsessed with sanctions, the visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said that sanctions, having become an end in themselves, do not serve any purpose.

"Sanctions have become an end in themselves. Sanctions do not serve any purpose. Let me tell you why. When sanctions on the nuclear issue started, Iran had less than 200 centrifuges. Now Iran has 20,000 centrifuges. So sanctions have produced -- just in normal calculus -- 19,800 centrifuges. I mean, just do simple math," Zarif said in response to a question.

"We can say in Iran that we suffered, our economic growth and development suffered, our people suffered, but we have 19,800 centrifuges. Well, let me ask you. What does the United States see as benefits of the sanctions policy for the US? What has the United States gained? 19,800 centrifuges is one gain. Another gain is the resentment of the Iranian population," he said.