Claims from Iranian officials that the US is secretly supporting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria — even as it bombs the jihadists in both countries — are far from unusual. Since the US airstrikes began in early August, the Supreme Leader, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, and military commanders have all accused Washington of creating the Islamic State’s threat.

However, the deputy head of Iran’s armed forces, General Massoud Jazayeri (pictured), has found a way of enhancing the allegations — on Saturday, he effectively redrew the map of the region to prove the US perfidy.

Jazayeri said “the US and the so-called anti-Islamic State coalition” were being deceitful when they “claim that they have launched a campaign against this terrorist and criminal group”.

His proof? The coalition is “supplying the group with weapons, food and medicine in the Jalawla region” — a town in Diyala Governorate in Iraq. He explained that “the coalition has airdropped the aid to the Islamic State as a result of a mistake are unlikely”.

Jazayeri’s story appears to be a creative rearrangement — either deliberately or from confusion — of geography and the facts.

The US has declared a mistake in an airdrop which was seized by the Islamic State, but not in eastern Iraq, where there has been no coalition delivery of aid to civilians or Iraqi forces.

Instead, the airdrop was near Kobane, the Kurdish center in northern Syria besieged by the Islamic State.

Kobane is about 850 kilometers (530 miles) from Jalawla.

Still, a few hundred miles are unlikely to deter Jazayeri in his campaign to set the record straight. As he told Basij paramilitaries:

Based on the intelligence, news and analyses we have, the foreign spy agencies — headed by the US — created, managed and supported the Islamic State and regional terrorists logistically.

Such cooperation still continues and the Americans seek to fool the public opinion under the pretext of confrontation with the terrorist group.