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Iran confirms it carried out air strikes against Islamic State extremists in Iraq
Source: The Guardian
Iran confirms it carried out air strikes against Islamic State extremists in Iraq
Julian Borger, diplomatic Editor
The Guardian, Friday 5 December 2014 18.14 GMT
A senior Iranian official confirmed on Friday his country had conducted air strikes against Islamic State (Isis) extremists in Iraq, saying the action was carried out at the request of the Baghdad government but was not coordinated with the US.
The deputy foreign minister, Ebrahim Rahimpour said the purpose of the strikes was “the defence of the interests of our friends in Iraq” who he defined as the Baghdad government and the Kurdish autonomous region in the north of the country, who are both fighting the Isis movement.
“In this matter, we did not have any coordination with the Americans. We have coordinated only with the Iraqi government,” Rahimpour told the Guardian, in an interview in London. “In general, every military operation to help the Iraqi government is according to their requests.
“We will not allow conditions in Iraq to descend to the level of Syria, which has been created by foreign players. And certainly our assistance (to Iraq) is stronger than our assistance to Syria, because they are nearer to us.”
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Julian Borger, diplomatic Editor
The Guardian, Friday 5 December 2014 18.14 GMT
A senior Iranian official confirmed on Friday his country had conducted air strikes against Islamic State (Isis) extremists in Iraq, saying the action was carried out at the request of the Baghdad government but was not coordinated with the US.
The deputy foreign minister, Ebrahim Rahimpour said the purpose of the strikes was “the defence of the interests of our friends in Iraq” who he defined as the Baghdad government and the Kurdish autonomous region in the north of the country, who are both fighting the Isis movement.
“In this matter, we did not have any coordination with the Americans. We have coordinated only with the Iraqi government,” Rahimpour told the Guardian, in an interview in London. “In general, every military operation to help the Iraqi government is according to their requests.
“We will not allow conditions in Iraq to descend to the level of Syria, which has been created by foreign players. And certainly our assistance (to Iraq) is stronger than our assistance to Syria, because they are nearer to us.”
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Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/dec/05/iran-conducts-air-strikes-against-isis-exremists-iraq
