Iran Strongly Rejects Deploying Troops in Iraq.

Iran Strongly Rejects Deploying Troops in Iraq.(Fars).

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian categorically rejected a Wall Street Journal report alleging that the country has dispatched military forces to Iraq to fight against the Al-Qaeda-backed militants in there.

Amir Abdollahian's remarks came after the American newspaper, the Wall Street Journal, in a report claimed that Tehran has sent two elite units of its Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) to Iraq to fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) terrorists - an Al-Qaeda offshoot.

"The dispatch of Iranian military forces to Iraq is not true," Amir Abdollahian stressed in remarks to FNA on Friday.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister also stressed Iraq's strong military capabilities, and reiterated that Iraq's armed forces are powerfully fighting against the ISIL militants.

Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari did not confirm the WSJ report when asked if Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) was entering the fight."Frankly I have no idea about that. I am in London now," he told the WSJ in a phone interview.

In Tehran, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afgham had already stressed that Iran is not involved in the clashes in Iraq, saying, "Until now we haven't received any requests for help from Iraq. Iraq's army is certainly capable in handling this."

Political analyst Seyed Mostafa Khoshcheshm told FNA on Friday that "such reports are aimed at provoking the Sunni population in the region to rush into Iraq to escalate the present clashes into a Sunni-Shiite Armageddon."

Elaborating on why the US and its media, including the WSJ, are striving to fabricate reports on Iran's military presence in regional clashes, the political analyst said, "While the western states, including the US, have condemned the ISIL terrorist moves in Iraq, their main allies in the region have not only voiced support for the terrorist groups, including the ISIL, but provided it with financial and logistical backups and much more".

"There is a strong body of evidence to prove such regional supports for the ISIL, including Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki's recent complaints in this regard. Just yesterday, the daughter of Iraq's executed dictator Saddam Hussein declared that she has joined the ISIL and appreciated Saudi Arabia and Qatar for their fervent and non-stop supports for the ISIL," he added.Read the full story here.

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