TEHRAN: Iran will not deploy its forces to Iraq to fight against al-Qaeda-linked militants from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), the Chief of Staff of Iranian Armed Forces Major General Hassan Firouzabadi said on Wednesday.
“There is no need for the presence of Iranian forces in Iraq and Iran-US cooperation will never happen as it would be absolutely meaningless,” the Iranian media quoted the Chief of Staff of Iranian Armed Forces as saying.
Firouzabadi said that the ISIL is brainchild of the US government, adding that the Takfiri militants have been financed by regional countries.
“The ISIL is a US-Israeli move to create a safety margin for Zionists in the face of [anti-Israeli] resistance forces in the region,” he said.
Separately, the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that the Islamic Republic will spare no effort to protect holy shrines in the Iraqi cities of Karbala, Najaf, Kadhimiya and Samarra.
In an address to the people of western Iranian province of Lorestan on Wednesday, Rouhani noted that numerous people in Iran have expressed readiness to travel to Iraq to defend the shrines of Shia Imams there and counter terrorists.
The Iranian president further said that Iraqi volunteers from Shia, Sunni and Kurd groups are already prepared to stand up to the ISIL Takfiri militants.
