Iran’s Deputy Foreign
Minister Ebrahim Rahimpour said in an interview with The Guardian on Friday that the Islamic Republic did indeed conduct
air strikes against ISIL positions in Iraq.
Last week, a footage shot
by Al Jazeera showed an Iranian F-4
Phantom fighter jet on Iraqi skies, providing close air support to the Iraqi
military and Shia militias near the town of Saadiya near the Iranian border.
Iranian military officials at first refused to confirm, and indeed denied that Iran air
force had conducted combat missions in Iraq.
Rahimpour’s conformation
of the airstrikes, although coming as no surprise to Iran watcher, does confirm observations that IRIAF played a major role in liberation of the towns of Saadiya and Jalula
in late November.
Rahimpour added that
Iranian airstrikes against ISIL were coordinated with Iraqi officials, but not
with the U.S. military. He did not say if Iraq could have played the coordinating role between Iranian and U.S. forces.
UPDATE: The speaker of Iranian Majlis, Ali Larijani, on Saturday denied that IRIAF fighter jets were involved in combat operations in Iraq. Apparently the Iranian officials cannot make a collective decision on how to message their air force's role in anti-ISIL war. They might be afraid that such admission could also be interpreted as coordination of their anti-ISIL campaign with U.S. forces in Iraq, but having already said at the highest level that the U.S. is behind ISIL's advances in the region.
File photo: Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) F-4E Phantom II fighter jets during a flyover in Tehran; 18 April 2010 (Behrouz Mehri/Mehr News Agency)
UPDATE: The speaker of Iranian Majlis, Ali Larijani, on Saturday denied that IRIAF fighter jets were involved in combat operations in Iraq. Apparently the Iranian officials cannot make a collective decision on how to message their air force's role in anti-ISIL war. They might be afraid that such admission could also be interpreted as coordination of their anti-ISIL campaign with U.S. forces in Iraq, but having already said at the highest level that the U.S. is behind ISIL's advances in the region.
File photo: Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) F-4E Phantom II fighter jets during a flyover in Tehran; 18 April 2010 (Behrouz Mehri/Mehr News Agency)
