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Iranian jet struck Islamic State targets in Iraq, U.S. official says Iranian jets strike Islamic State targets in Iraq, U.S. official says
(about 7 hours later)
Iranian aircraft conducted strikes against Islamic State positions in Iraq last weekend, expanding Tehran’s presence as a close ally of Iraq’s Shiite-led government. Iranian aircraft conducted strikes against Islamic State positions in eastern Iraq last weekend, expanding Tehran’s role as a close ally of Iraq’s Shiite-led government.
“We do think they did do some airstrikes at targets in Iraq,” a senior U.S. defense official said, adding that “we have no reason to doubt those reports.” “We do think they did do some airstrikes at targets in Iraq,” said a senior U.S. defense official, who added that “several” Iranian planes were involved. Although Iran has conducted surveillance flights in Iraq in recent months, the strikes would be the first confirmed air attacks.
“We’ve long said they have a presence in Iraq, contributing to helping the Iraqis against ISIL,” the official said. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, added that Iran has also been conducting overflights with unarmed surveillance aircraft. ISIL is one of several acronyms used to refer to the Islamic State. “We’ve long said they have a presence in Iraq, contributing to helping the Iraqis against ISIL,” said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, given the sensitivity of the matter, and using an acronym for the militant group.
Jane’s Defense Weekly reported Monday that an Iranian F4 Phantom II struck targets in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala, near the Iranian border. The flight appeared on video shot on Nov. 30 by al-Jazeera, which Jane’s said erroneously identified it as an Iraqi plane. Only Iran and Turkey fly F4s in the region, Jane’s said. Jane’s Defense Weekly reported Monday that an Iranian F-4 Phantom II struck targets in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala, near the Iranian border. The plane appeared on video shot Sunday by Al Jazeera, which Jane’s said erroneously identified it as an Iraqi aircraft. Only Iran and Turkey fly F-4s in the region, Jane’s said.
U.S. officials did not initially comment on whether Iran or Iraq had informed the U.S.-led coalition of the flight. It is unlikely that U.S. operations officials in the region, in charge of numerous U.S. air European warplanes flying bombing missions over Iraq, would have been unaware of other aircraft in the area. U.S. military spokesmen indirectly confirmed the reports Tuesday. “I have no reason to believe that they’re not true,” said the Pentagon’s press secretary, Rear Adm. John F. Kirby. But “you should consult the Iranian government to speak to the activities of their military,” he said.
Members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Force have been spotted with Shiite militia ground forces engaged in the fight against the Islamic State in Iraq, and Iran has supplied weapons and other supplies to the Iraqi military and Kurdish forces, called the peshmerga, in northern Iraq. It is unlikely that U.S. military officials coordinating the numerous American and European warplanes flying bombing missions over Iraq were unaware of the flights, although spokesmen said the U.S. military was not in contact with Iran.
In an interview Monday on Lebanese television, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said that Iran had stood by Iraq and was swift to provide assistance early this year while Western nations initially hesitated, according to Iran’s English-language Press TV. “We maintain good situational awareness of the activity taking place in the airspace over Iraq and Syria in order to ensure reasonably safe and effective operations by our forces,” said Maj. Curtis J. Kellogg, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command. “We coordinate our air operations in Iraq with Iraqi security forces. . . . We don’t coordinate our operations with Iran.”
Rafid Jaboori, a spokesman for the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, declined to comment on whether Iranian jets had struck in Iraqi territory but said that Iran remains a key ally in the fight against the Islamic State. Iraq needs “the help of all its friends,” he said. He confirmed that Iran has military advisers in Iraq, “like the Americans do,” but would not discuss further details of their assistance.
In an interview Monday on Lebanese television, Abadi said that Iran had stood by Iraq and swiftly provide assistance early this year while Western nations initially hesitated, according to Iran’s English-language Press TV.
Members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps have been seen in Iraq with Shiite militia ground forces fighting the Islamic State, and Iran has provided weapons and other supplies to the Iraqi military and to Kurdish forces, called the peshmerga, operating in northern Iraq.
Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, has visited Iraq frequently since about a third of the country’s territory fell into the hands of the Islamic State during the summer. Photographs showing the military commander in fatigues on the battlefield have circulated on social media. One image shows him hugging Hadi al-Ameri, the head of Iraq’s Badr Brigade, which is leading the fight in Diyala, the province where the Iranian strikes allegedly took place.
Ameri denied that Iranian jets had carried out raids in Iraq.
“There have never, ever been any Iranian strikes,” said the militia leader, who describes Soleimani as a “close friend.”
Iraq complained that it lacked the air power to fend off the Islamic State’s advances as the group began to make inroads at the start of the year. After the fall of Mosul in June, Iraq scrambled to cobble together an air force from second-hand aircraft — including Soviet-made Su-25 fighters sent from Iran. Analysts said the Su-25s would most likely need to be flown by Iranians because Iraq lacked qualified pilots.
Iran’s F-4 Phantom II jets were made by McDonnell Douglas and obtained prior to the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
The Iranian air attack took place in the eastern Iraqi town of Saadiya, northeast of Baghdad, Britain’s Telegraph newspaper reported. It said Al Jazeera’s video was taken during a key battle for the town, which became a major militant base after being taken over by the Islamic State in June. The area is also some distance from where U.S. airstrikes have taken place in Iraq.
Morris reported from Beirut. Missy Ryan in Washington contributed to this report.