Will Iran Intervene in Iraq?

[olcayto]

@Aeronaut @Manticore False flag troll. Please shut him down!

The rest of the sane members: do not reply to him.

Why is he a false flagger?

 

[Azizam]

Iran officials call for international response to ISIS violence


Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, addressed the victories of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) against a fleeing Iraqi military in a meeting with Syria’s ambassador to Iran. “The expansion of terrorist elements of [ISIS] and their violent acts in Iraq was a warning for the region,” Shamkhani said. “There is a need for attention and action from governments and the international community.”

Without naming names, Shamkhani said that those who support these terrorist groups would eventually be affected by them as well.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Marzieh Afkham condemned the ISIS attacks in Mosul, calling them a danger that reaches beyond Iraq’s borders. “The threat to the world of terrorism requires governments and the international community, in the current dangerous situation, to stand with the people of Iraq,” said Afkham. She expressed Iran’s readiness to help the Iraqi people and the Iraqi government in confronting terrorism.

Ismael Kowsari, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said that the ISIS victories were not a direct threat to Iran, but would cause the disintegration of Iraq. “[ISIS] is after the goals of its supporters and Israel, and their goals are to cause differences and disintegrate Iraq,” Kowsari said. He called on Iraq’s neighbors to help secure the country’s territorial integrity.

Iran has strong relations with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Tehran has also supported various militias, most notably Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), a Shiite militia that reportedly operates under Iran’s Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani. AAH has reportedly cooperated with the Iraqi military in specific operations. Powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr also asked for forces to protect religious sites. Sadr once commanded the Mahdi Army and has spent time in Iran’s holy city of Qom.

News that this religiously and ethnically mixed city had fallen into the hands of some of the most extreme Sunni militants, causing approximately 500,000 to flee, concerns Iranians of all stripes. Mosul is in the western Iraqi province of Ninevah, which shares a 300-mile border with Syria. Iran has spent considerable political and economic capital to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against the rebels and militants. The victory of militants with purported backing of former Baathists has also sparked bitter memories of those who remember Iran’s eight-year war with Iraq.

Liberal religious blogger Ali-Ashraf Fathi wrote a note on Facebook in response to the ISIS attack that was shared widely and surprised with its strong tone. “The savages of [ISIS] who have become the inheritors of the Baathists in Iraq — and it is not clear which Western or Eastern country supports them — after an unsuccessful attack in Samarra, their destination is to attack the shrines in Najaf and Karbala,” he wrote. “The news is extremely worrying. If the Iraqi government cannot control the holy shrines and the defenseless people of Iraq, it is a duty of all Shiites and Iran to take action to prevent the desecration of holy shrines.” He added that the situation in Iraq is different from protecting an individual such as Assad in Syria. He asked that if the Iraqi government is unable to take action, that the Iranian government should begin accepting volunteers.

Iran officials call for international response to ISIS violence - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

 

[The SiLent crY]

As I said yesterday Iran would silently send troops to Iraq .

I guess Mahdi army will pick up arms again in Iraq .

 

[Serpentine]

Times is reporting this, but I can't confirm it by any other evidence though, perhaps we'll never know if this is true or not, if this is supposed to remain a secret operation.

Iran’s special forces rush in to help floundering ally | The Times

 

[mahatir]

Times is reporting this, but I can't confirm it by any other evidence though, perhaps we'll never know if this is true or not, if this is supposed to remain a secret operation.

Iran’s special forces rush in to help floundering ally | The Times

Quds force operates in iraq since fall of saddam regime nothing really new here besides ISIL cant make it to baghdad , they reached their maximum by seizing parts of tikrit .

Iraqi army will have no problem kicking them out of salah-eldin but challenge will be in anbar as its a stalemate for 6 month and perhaps some problems in nineveh when they start regrouping to retake mosul

Times is reporting this, but I can't confirm it by any other evidence though, perhaps we'll never know if this is true or not, if this is supposed to remain a secret operation.

Iran’s special forces rush in to help floundering ally | The Times

you should also ask your ally assad to start striking ISIL headquarters in riqqa and their camps , using barrels bombs on them would be more useful than syrian peasants .

 

[jammersat]

it will be another war between the shia and the sunni , improvising the status quo

 

[Gold1010]

I don't think Iran will send its own troops to Iraq, our Turkish friends? maybe.

 

[The SiLent crY]

I don't think Iran will send its own troops to Iraq, our Turkish friends? maybe.

Iran has interests in Iraq plus shia shrines that if get attacked ( and IR doesn't react ) many religious people inside the country blame the government and might voluntary go to Iraq .

 

[xenon54 out]

I don't think Iran will send its own troops to Iraq, our Turkish friends? maybe.

We allready send reconaissance planes and UAV's, they are cooperating with Iraq and share intelligence, the source is also talking about a possible operation.

Turkey says investigating reports 28 truck drivers kidnapped in Iraq | Page 8

 

[Hindustani78]

HI there all,

Just an opinion. Iran for sure would try to keep its influence in Iraq but that would be limited similar like Americans.

 

[Hindustani78]

damn have you seen that video from daesh (yesterday) that they shoot at everybody in the street?? kids women men doesn't matter..
do they even have brain?? and i wonder why the hell some M.E countries support them?
i still can't believe what i saw in that video it wasn't one of bloody movies of tarantino it was real damn shame

Everyone are having their own way of understanding things because some wants to keep their power and for that they will do anything because for them only themselves are important and they do it in the name of survival.

 

[Gold1010]

Iran to combat terrorism in Iraq: Iran President Rouhani

TEHERAN (AFP) - Predominantly Shi'ite Muslim Iran will combat terrorism by Sunni extremists in neighbouring Iraq, President Hassan Rouhani warned on Thursday.

Mr Rouhani, speaking live on television, did not say exactly what Iran intended to do to help stop an offensive by fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) that is pushing toward Baghdad after seizing several cities and towns to the north.

“This is an extremist, terrorist group that is acting savagely,” Mr Rouhani said live on state television, adding that Teheran will not “tolerate this violence and terror.”

“For our part, as the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran... we will combat violence, extremism and terrorism in the region and the world,” said an agitated Mr Rouhani.

Mr Rouhani said he would head to a meeting of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council following his speech.

That body decides on the Islamic state’s major foreign policy and security policies, and it would have to approve any military support Teheran might want to provide to Baghdad.

The President spoke after the heavily armed militant group – which has overrun major Iraqi cities and towns in the face of little effective resistance from security forces – said it was pushing towards Baghdad.

Iran is seen as an ally of Iraq’s Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whose government’s swift loss of control has raised concerns over its ability to stop the ISIL offensive.

- See more at: Iran to combat terrorism in Iraq: Iran President Rouhani

 

[Azizam]

Iran Deploys Forces to Fight al Qaeda-Inspired Militants in Iraq

BEIRUT—Faced with the threat of Sunni extremists eclipsing the power of Shiite-dominated Iraq, Iran sprang into action to aid its besieged Arab ally and deployed Revolutionary Guards units to Iraq, according to Iranian security sources.

At least three battalions of the Quds Forces, the elite overseas branch of the Guards, were dispatched to aid in the battle against the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, an offshoot of al Qaeda rapidly gaining territory across Iraq, they said.

One Guards unit that was already in Iraq fought alongside the Iraqi army, offering guerrilla warfare advice and tactics and helped reclaim most of the city of Tikrit on Thursday.

Two Guards' units, dispatched from Iran's western border provinces on Wednesday, were tasked with protecting Baghdad and the holy Shiite cities of Karbala and Najaf, these security sources said.

General Qasem Sulaimani, the commander of the Quds Forces and one of the region's most powerful military figures, traveled to Baghdad this week to help manage the swelling crisis, said a member of the Revolutionary Guards, or IRGC.

Qassimm al-Araji, an Iraqi Shiite lawmaker who heads the Badr Brigade bloc in parliament, posted a picture with Mr. Sulaimani holding hands in a room in Baghdad on his social-networking site with the caption, "Haj Qasem is here," reported Iranian news sites affiliated with the IRGC on Wednesday. "Haj Qasem" is Mr. Sulaimani's nom de guerre.

The rampant presence of an al Qaeda-affiliated group gaining support and territory presents Iranwith the biggest security and strategic challenge it has faced since the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Iran has invested considerable financial, political and military resources over the past decade to ensure that Iraq emerged from the grip of Americans as a key Arab ally of the Islamic Republic and a strong Shiite-dominated state. The so-called Shiite crescent—stretching from Iran to Iraq, Lebanon and Syria—was forged largely as a result of this effort.

Syria's conflict also turned Iraq into an important operational base for Iran to aid Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime. Shiite militia trained by Iran, weapons and cash flowed from Iran to Syria via roads and airports in Iraq.

"Iraq is viewed as a vital priority in Iran's foreign policy in the region and they go to any length to protect this interest," said Roozbeh Miribrahimi, an independent Iran expert based in New York.

Iran has also positioned troops on full alert along its border with Iraq and has given clearance to its air force to bomb ISIS rebel forces if they come within 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, from Iran's border, according to an Iranian army general.

The two IRGC battalions that moved to Iraq on Wednesday were shifted from the Iranian border provinces of Urumieh and Lorestan, the Iranian security officials said.

Revolutionary Guards units that serve in Iran's border provinces are the most experienced fighters in guerrilla warfare because of separatist ethnic uprisings in those regions. IRGC commanders dispatched to Syria also often hail from those provinces.

In addition, it was considering the transfer to Iraq of Shiite volunteer troops in Syria, if the initial deployments fail to turn the tide of battle in favor of Mr. Maliki's government.

At stake for Iran in the current tumult in Iraq isn't only the survival of a Shiite political ally in Baghdad, but the safety of Karbala and Najaf, which along with Mecca and Medina are considered sacred to Shiites world-wide.

An ISIS spokesman, Abu Mohamad al-Adnani, urged the group's Sunni fighters to march toward the "filth-ridden" Karbala and "the city of polytheism" Najaf, where they would "settle their differences" with Mr. Maliki.

That coarsely worded threat further vindicates Iran's view that the fight unfolding in Iraq is an existential sectarian battle between the two rivaling sects of Islam-Sunni and Shiite—and by default a proxy battle between their patrons Saudi Arabia and Iran.

"Until now we haven't received any requests for help from Iraq. Iraq's army is certainly capable in handling this," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afgham said Wednesday.

Iran's President Hasa Rouhani cut short a religious celebration on Thursday and said he had to attend an emergency meeting of the country's National Security Council about events in Iraq.

"We, as the Islamic Republic of Iran, won't tolerate this violence and terrorism…. We will fight and battle violence and extremism and terrorism in the region and the world," he said in a speech.

ISIS's rapid territorial gains in the past few days appeared to have caught Iranian officials by surprise and opened a debate within the regime over whether Iran should publicly enter the battle, citing the country's strategic interest and ideological responsibility. Iranian officials also privately expressed concern about whether Mr. Maliki was capable of handling the turmoil.

Iran's chief of police, Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam said the National Security Council would consider intervening in Iraq to "protect Shiite shrines and cities," according to Iranian media.

Public opinion in Iran and among Shiites among the region appears to support a strong intervention from Iran and its Shiite allies such as Hezbollah to defeat the growing threat of al Qaeda's resurgence in the region. This is in contrast to Syria's war, where opinion is sharply divided on whether or not to support the regime or the opposition.

In chat rooms and social media many Iranians have expressed fear that sectarian conflict could spill over to Iran and claimed they are willing to volunteer for fighting in Iraq.

"I am proud to go fight alongside General Sulaimani [commander of Quds Forces]. Even if you hate the Islamic Republic's regime, you can't fathom an alternative like al Qaeda," said Saber, a 25-year-old member of Iran's Basij militia.

In the short-term, analysts say that the outcome of the crisis in Iraq will only strengthen and increase the influence of Iran and the Revolutionary Guards.

"The more insecure and isolated Maliki becomes, the more he will need Iran. The growth of ISIS presents a serious threat to Iran. So it would not be surprising to see the Guards become more involved in Iraq," said Alireza Nader, a senior policy analyst at the Rand Corp.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/iran...s-in-iraq-iranian-security-sources-1402592470

@Hussein

 

[atatwolf]

Iran is already helping terrorist Shia groups in Iraq. Who do you think blows all those car bombs up every view days. I think Iran won't declare war but sent more Shia extremist into Iraq.

 

[Falcon29]

Iran and US best friends cooperating:

US President Barack Obama declared on Thursday that short-term military actions will have to be taken in Iraq, following the take-over by an Al Qaeda break-off Islamist terrorist group over large portions of the country.

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