ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani promised Wednesday that his country would spare no effort to protect Shiite Shrines in Iraq, where Sunni militants have captured major cities and are marching on Baghdad to overthrow the Shiite-led government.
“All superpowers, mercenaries and terrorists should know that the great Iranian nation will make every effort to safeguard holy shrines in the Iraqi cities of Karbala, Najaf, Kadhimiya and Samarra,” said Rouhani, speaking on live television from the Iranian province of Lorestan.
“These terrorist groups and those who are supporting them -- both in the region and across the world -- are no match for the Muslim people of this land (Iraq) and they will repel them, God willing,” Rouhani said in comments covered live on official Press TV.
The Iranian president noted that numerous people in Iran have expressed readiness to travel to Iraq to defend the shrines of Shiite imams (saints) there, and counter terrorists.
He added that Iraqi volunteers from Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish groups are already prepared to stand up to the militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), who have already seized large Sunni territories and are marching towards Baghdad to topple the Shiite-led government of of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Rouhani has denied reports that some of Tehran’s elite Quds forces are in Iraq to help bolster Maliki, a fellow Shiite. But he said, "If the Iraqi government wants us to help, we will consider it."
Iran is a major powerbroker in Iraq, with influence over the Shiites, Kurds and even Sunni political leaders.
Early this week, Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani visited Tehran to discuss the crisis in Iraq with Iranian defense authorities.
Even the United States, which backs Maliki but has no relations with arch-enemy Iran, has been speaking to Iranian officials about the crisis in Iraq.
On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif confirmed he had discussed Iraq with US officials at a meeting in Vienna over Iran’s nuclear program.
As fighting was reported Wednesday in Baqubah, only 65 kilometers from Baghdad and one of the last cities before the capital, the United States said it is sending 275 marines to protect the US Embassy in the Iraqi capital, the largest US mission in the world with several thousand personnel.
Fighting also was reported at the Baiji refinery, Iraq’s largest, where the rebels have been trying to tighten their hold.
The Iraqi army has all but collapsed since abandoning posts and fleeing when the extremists marched on Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, last week.
Iraq’s Shiite authorities have issued a religious call for all Shiites to take up arms against the Sunni extremists.
The cities of Karbala and Najaf in southern Iraq house some of Shiite Islam’s holiest shrines, attracting pilgrims from neighboring Iran and around the world.
