TEHRAN, April 5 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Defense Minister Amir Hatami has accused the U.S. and Israel of spreading extremist and terrorist activities in the Middle East, Tasnim news agency reported Thursday.

Extremism serves the interests of Israel and the U.S. in the region, Hatami was quoted as saying.

In the face of such threats, Iran has helped Syria and Iraq in the war against terrorists, Hatami said in a meeting with his Kazakh counterpart on the sidelines of a security conference in Moscow.

He called for continued interaction between Iran and Kazakhstan in international organizations.

For his part, Kazakh Minister of Defense and Aerospace Industry Beibut Atamkulov hailed the cooperation among Iran, Russia and Turkey in the battle against terrorism that prevented the escalation of the crisis in Syria.