Iranian fighter jets strike IS militants in Iraq: Pentagon

PanARMENIAN.Net - Iranian fighter jets struck Islamic State militants in eastern Iraq in recent days, the Pentagon said, signaling Tehran's determination to confront the jihadists and Washington's tacit partnership with arch-foe Iran, AFP reports.

The air raids marked an escalation in Iran's role in a conflict that has seen Tehran and the Washington set aside their customary hostility to battle a common enemy in the IS group, which both governments view as a dangerous threat.

"We have indications that they did indeed fly air strikes with F-4 Phantoms in the past several days," AFP quoted Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby as saying on Tuesday, Dec 2.

His comments came days after Al-Jazeera ran footage of what appeared to be an F-4 fighter, similar to those used by the Iranian air force, attacking targets in the eastern province of Diyala.

Iranian forces have been active on the ground in Iraq assisting Shiite militia and Baghdad government units, but this was the first time the United States had confirmed the Iranian air force was conducting strikes against the IS group.

Kirby said the United States was not coordinating with Iranian forces and that it was up to the Iraqi government to oversee military flights by different countries.

"We are flying missions over Iraq. We coordinate with the Iraqi government as we conduct those. It's up to the Iraqi government to deconflict that air space," Kirby told reporters.

"Nothing has changed about our policy of not coordinating military activity with the Iranians."

Iran also has provided Sukhoi Su-25 aircraft to Iraq amid widespread speculation that the planes are flown by Iranian pilots.

Iranian weapons have made their way to Shiite fighters in Iraq, including 12.7 mm rifles designed to penetrate armored vehicles and multiple rocket launchers, according to a report by IHS Jane's Defense.

The commander of Iran's elite Quds Force, Major General Qassem Suleimani, led a counter-attack in Iraq over the summer that pushed back IS militants from a key route leading from Samarra to Baghdad, according to Lebanon's Shiite movement Hezbollah.

Suleimani flew to Baghdad on June 10, hours after the IS group seized the Iraqi city of Mosul, and hammered out a strategy "to secure Baghdad and its surroundings," according to the Shiite group's Al-Manar website.

Suleimani also reportedly has had a hand in operations against the IS group in Amerli in the north and in eastern Iraq near the Iranian border. Iranian television last month released a rare photo of Suleimani in Iraq with Kurdish peshmerga fighters, promoting Tehran's role in the fight against IS.

Iran has declined to join the US-led coalition against the IS group and publicly dismissed the air war, but Tehran's Iraqi allies have benefited from the strikes against the jihadists.

Iran acquired its F-4 fighters from the United States before the 1979 revolution that toppled the country's pro-U.S. monarchy.