Mohammad Javad Zarif Quotes

The rise of ISIS is a result of - Obama and Clinton making a decision to pull our troops out without preparing Iraq is a colossal mistake.

The rise of ISIS starts with a Jordanian thug named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi who founded ISIS' parent organization, al Qaeda, in Iraq. What gave Zarqawi the opportunity to create al Qaeda in Iraq? It was, of course, George W. Bush's decision to invade Iraq in 2003.

There is no question that what we are seeing - the horrible advance of ISIS - goes back, if you will, to the original sin of the invasion of Iraq.

The invasion of Iraq, particularly, gave a big shot in the arm to the jihadi extremists.

ISIS controls a territory roughly the size of Maryland where 8 million people live. If it's attacked and toppled, who will fill the void?

What happened in Iraq and Syria was that the world remained silent as ISIS expanded.

ISIS is in many ways a creation of the Syrian regime.

ISIS filled the vacuum in Iraq and Syria created by a lack of effective governance.

To destroy the Islamic State, you have to fix Syria. You have to look at the reasons that created the Islamic State. This is a huge task.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq by U.S. and coalition partners stands as one of the greatest blunders in American history. The Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, rose out of the the chaos, throwing the region into turmoil that hasn't been equaled since the fall of the Ottoman Empire.

The complete lack of governance in huge swaths of the Middle East - that is the project of the American establishment.

I have long argued that ISIS and Assad are not separate problems to be chosen between, but are action and reaction, cause and symptom, chicken and egg: impossible to untangle no matter how much we might like to.

Even the majority of the Sunnis have grown tired of foreign terrorists operating in Iraq.

President Bashar Assad's regime is in the unique position of being targeted both by Israel and supporters of al Qaeda.

By ending the Hussein regime, the United States has taken away yet another incubator of terrorism.

I blame the Russians for a lot, but pinning the creation of ISIS on them is a murky, tenuous, triple-carom bank shot at best.

The Sunni militants that make up ISIS are not the underlying problem in Syria and Iraq, but rather they are a symptom of other deeper problems.

Syria is attracting a lot more Westerners than the Iraq War ever did because it's the perfect Sunni jihad.

The answer as to why ISIS gained power and influence, and why stability in the Middle East has disastrously deteriorated, does not require extensive analysis.

The more the Iranians are seen to be dominating the region, the more it is going to inflame Sunni radicalism and fuel the rise of groups like the Islamic State.

If Hamas were destroyed and gone, we would probably end up with something much worse. The region would end up with something much worse.

Saudi Arabia is a frightened monarchy. It's beset by Sunni extremists from the Islamic State and Shiite extremists backed by Iran.

Actually, if you look at the essence of ISIS, how it came about, it's the product of foreign invasion. Foreign invasion in Iraq led to removal of Saddam Hussein, and we're not unhappy with that, but the point is that foreign presence in any territory has created dynamics. And you cannot avoid those dynamics.

ISIS did not come down from the sky. They found the opportunity to grow, and the world allowed them to grow.

Iran is not an enemy of ISIS; they have a lot to gain from the turmoil that ISIS creates.