Tehran confirms air strikes against ISIS
Khaleej Times - 07 December, 2014
http://www.gulfinthemedia.com/index.php?id=728868&news_type=Top&lang=en

A senior Iranian official has confirmed his country carried out air strikes
in neighbouring Iraq against ISIS fighters at the request of Iraqi
authorities, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported.

It quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Rahimpour as saying the strikes
were not coordinated with the United States, which is also waging an air
campaign against the radical militants who control large parts of north and
west Iraq.

The purpose of the strikes was “the defence of the interests of our friends
in Iraq”, the newspaper quoted Rahimpour as saying in an interview in
London.

“We did not have any coordination with the Americans. We have coordinated
only with the Iraqi government,” he said. “In general, every military
operation to help the Iraqi government is according to their requests.”

Rahimpour’s reported comments were the first from an Iranian official
confirming Iran’s role in the air strikes in the Iraqi province of Diyala,
which borders Iran, in late November. On Wednesday an Iranian official had
denied that Iran had launched any such strikes.

Diyala is an ethnically mixed province, where the Iraqi army, backed by
Kurdish Peshmerga and Shia militias drove ISIS out of several towns and
villages last month.

Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi said on Wednesday he had no knowledge
of Iranian air strikes. On Saturday, Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told a
security conference in Bahrain: “It’s not 100 per cent confirmed.” The
Iranian role was first highlighted in footage filmed by Al Jazeera
television, which appeared to show an F-4 Phantom striking ISIS positions in
Diyala. Defence experts said Iran and Turkey were the only regional
operators of the F-4, and Turkey is reluctant to take on ISIS militarily.

“We will not allow conditions in Iraq to descend to the level of Syria,
which has been created by foreign players,” the Guardian quoted Rahimpour as
saying, referring to Syria’s catastrophic three-year war in which Iran
supports President Bashar Al Assad against rebels including ISIS.

“And certainly our assistance (to Iraq) is stronger than our assistance to
Syria, because they are nearer to us,” he said. Rahimpour said Iran was also
assisting Kurdish forces in northern Iraq.


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