TEHRAN - It is of vital importance to fight Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) with “all our might”, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday over the telephone, a day after Paris called for a grand coalition to destroy the group.

“We are ready to offer cooperation in security and intelligence to France in the fight against terrorism,” Rouhani told Hollande.

“President Rouhani... insisted on the vital importance of the fight against Daesh and terrorism with all our might,” a French presidential source reported, referring to ISIL by its Arabic name.

The two men insisted on the importance of the Vienna peace talks to resolve the conflict in Syria, the source said.

“During a telephonic conversation with President Hollande, we both emphasized the need to unite the world in the fight against violence and extremism,” a Twitter account associated with Rouhani said.

Hollande appealed on Monday for a single coalition including the United States and Russia to eradicate ISIL militants in Syria after bloody attacks on Paris.

In a solemn address to a joint session of parliament in the Palace of Versailles that began with the words “France is at war”, Hollande announced an increase in police recruitment, a halt to layoffs in the army, and a constitutional amendment to strengthen the fight against terrorism.

The attacks by gunmen and suicide bombers at restaurants, bars, a soccer stadium and a music hall that killed 129 people and wounded more than 350 people were ordered from Syria, planned in Belgium and carried out with the help of French people, he said.

SP/P