TEHRAN (Tasnim) � Secretary of Iran�s Supreme National Security Council derided the US-led military coalition�s so-called fight against the ISIL terrorist group as a �joke�, saying Americans are dragging their feet over hitting the notorious group due to political reasons.

�Daesh is a tool for the West to advance its regional policies,� Ali Shamkhani said in a television talk show, using an Arabic acronym for ISIL.

He then referred to the US-led military coalition�s inability to wipe out the ISIL militants after months of military strikes, noting that Americans do not bother to target the convoys of hundreds of oil tankers that ISIL uses to smuggle oil.

ISIL is nothing more than �equipment and bases�, and the West can definitely strike them with such huge capabilities, Shamkhani stated.

He underlined that the West is using the terrorist group as a pretext to sell arms and make regional governments dependent.

That 130 sorties carried out by the US-led forces in a single day hit only 12 not so serious targets reveals that their battle against ISIL is a mere �joke�, the top official went on to say.

While the US and some of its allies began to launch airstrikes on ISIL targets in Syria in September 2014, the terrorist group has not gone out of existence.

But the battle against the ISIL militants entered a new stage after Russia began to carry out bombings against the terrorist group in Syria in late September 2015.

It came after Russia�s parliament granted President Vladimir Putin authorization to deploy the country�s air force abroad.

Reports suggest severe damages to the ISIL strongholds after Russia�s aerial attacks, something that lays bare the futility of a US-led military coalition against the militants in Syria after about a whole year.

By Tasnim News Agency