Iran denies sending troops to Iraq

Tehran, June 25 (IANS) Iran has not sent military forces to Iraq, Iran's foreign ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said Wednesday, denying the presence of any Iranian military officials in the crisis-torn Arab state.

"As the Iraqi ambassador to Tehran emphasised, none of Iranian military officials are in Iraq" and the claims concerning the presence of Iranian military forces in the country are "not true," Afkham said in her weekly press briefing.

She also said the claims about Iran's intervention in Iraq are "propaganda and aimed at weakening the Iraqi government", Xinhua reported.

On Tuesday, Iraq's Ambassador to Tehran Majid Al-Sheikh denied the presence of Iran's military forces as well as Iranian military commanders in Iraq, saying Iraq "will never accept any help from foreigners... and we are ready to defend the country by ourselves".

Asked whether the two countries will cooperate militarily to encounter the Sunni militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), Afkham said: "So far, Iraq has not asked Iran (for such a cooperation). If there is a request, Iran will decide on that based on its mutual relations with Iraq and within the framework of international regulations."

The situation in Iraq was improving, she said, adding that this was because of interaction among different Iraqi political groups in fighting "terrorism".

The International community should also discharge its responsibility vis-a-vis Iraq so that democracy could be established in the country and in the region, the Iranian foreign ministry official added.

The Islamic republic of Iran said that it would not send any military forces to help the Iraqi government in its fight against the ISIS, but Iranian President Hassan Rouhani recently said Iran would do everything to protect Muslim Shiite shrines in the Middle East country.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Sunday his country was strongly against any US intervention in Iraq's internal affairs, and believed that the Iraqi people, the government and the country's religious leaders would be able to end the violence by themselves.