Tehran rules out Iranian troops in Iraq

TEHRAN – Anadolu Agency

Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) who have taken over Mosul and other northern provinces, wave from a truck in Baghdad, June 18, 2014. REUTERS Photo

Iran will not dispatch troops to neighboring Iraq, the country’s chief of staff said on June 18.

“There is no need for the presence of Iranian soldiers in Iraq, as Iraqi people are capable of solving their own problems,” Major General Hassan Firouzabadi said according to Iran’s state news agency IRNA.

Firouzabadi also ruled out any cooperation between Iran and the U.S., describing it as “meaningless.”

The possibility of U.S.-Iran cooperation has been making headlines since Monday, when U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Washington was “open” to working with the Iranian’s against the growing tide of Sunni insurgency in Iraq.

Firouzabadi also claimed that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) was a brainchild of former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “ISIL is a joint project launched by the U.S. and Israel to create safe frontiers for Zionists in the face of anti-Israeli resistance groups,” he said.