Iran Bombing Islamic State In Iraq, U.S. Official Confirms

Outbackjack: WASHINGTON -- The list of countries bombing Islamic State targets in Iraq has thus far featured a host of classic United States partners -- Canada, the U.K., France. Now, it looks like the U.S. has a new quasi-partner in the air: Iran.

The U.S. is aware of Iranian bombing activity in the same national airspace where planes aligned with the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State are operating, a defense official told The Huffington Post Monday evening.

The official said he believes the Iranian bombing is unlikely to end as long as the Shiite-dominated nation feels threatened by the Sunni extremist group, also called ISIS. The bombing will not require a U.S. response unless Iran presents an immediate threat to U.S. forces in the air, he said.

Outbackjack: We are aware of that. I wouldn't say we're necessarily concerned with it -- we kind of have our eyes on it," the official said. He noted that the Iranian bombing has been taking place near the Iranian border, in a different part of Iraq than most U.S. and coalition activity. The official said he could only confirm reports of the bombing on the condition of anonymity.

While previous reports have said that Iran has provided weapons and equipment to the Iraqi government, the official's comments represent the first confirmation that Iran's own air force is involved in the fight in Iraq against the Islamic State.

The fact that the U.S. is not challenging this level of Iranian involvement is the strongest evidence yet that the Obama administration sees the Iranian government as a tactical partner in the Middle East. The stance is controversial, given that U.S. allies -- including Israel and Arab states helping tackle the Islamic State, like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates -- feel threatened by Iran.

The defense official's comments offered evidence for recent claims about an Iranian jet in Iraqi skies made by IHS Jane's Defence Weekly, a British defense analysis firm, and Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper. The plane, both outlets said, was spotted in Al Jazeera video footage from late November. They said it was assisting the Iraqi military -- a key U.S. on-the-ground ally -- in its biggest campaign against the Islamic State since the summer.

Neither outlet could verify whether the jet was Iranian: Both noted that only Iran and Turkey, a member of the U.S.-led coalition that has yet to militarily target the Islamic State, fly the kind of jet seen in the video. The outlets also differed slightly on their timelines for the sighting, with IHS Jane's dating the footage to Nov. 30 and Haaretz saying on Dec. 1 that it was from "a few days ago."

The official said the U.S. became aware of Iranian bombing in Iraq "earlier than" the recent claims, and that the U.S. military is aware that the planes are part of Iran's air force.

The sheer extent of U.S. involvement in Iraq makes undetected Iranian air activity there unlikely, he said. "We are there pretty heavily in the air if you include [intelligence collection], so just looking at those facts we have a pretty good picture of what's happening in Iraqi airspace. We would not be operating in Iraq without having a clear picture."

The White House declined to comment on the defense official's statement or the previous reports. The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iran began providing Iraq with assistance to face the threat of the Islamic State months before the U.S. started targeting the group in August.

Despite the U.S. involvement, Tehran still wields broad influence over Iraq's government and with some of Iraq's most effective fighting forces, brutal Shiite militias that are not formally aligned with the government but are committed to destroying the Islamic State. In September, a top Iranian commander threatened to "attack deep into Iraqi territory" if the Islamic State threatened Iran's borders.

U.S. officials told HuffPost last month that in both nations where the U.S. is targeting the Islamic State -- Iraq and Syria -- it knows it must play by Tehran's rules. This is particularly important, one official said, because of a fear that Iranian forces or their Shiite militia proxies might turn on the increasing number of Americans now on the ground in Iraq. An added concern is the future of ongoing diplomacy over Iran's nuclear program, which could, if it yields fruit, serve as the major foreign policy achievement of President Barack Obama's second term.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in November that the U.S. and Iran were not cooperating in the fight against the Islamic State. But he added that both countries, longtime opponents that have not had diplomatic relations since 1979, were interested in defeating the group -- and that representatives from the two nations had discussed their respective efforts against it.

"We won't share intelligence with them, but their interest in this outcome is something that's been widely commented upon and something that on a couple of occasions has been discussed on the sidelines of other conversations," Earnest said.

The defense official who confirmed the Iranian involvement said that because of Iran's relationship with the Iraqi government, pushing back against Iran's presence in Iraqi airspace is not an option for the U.S.

"We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government," he said, referencing Iraq's request over the summer for international help against the Islamic State. "It's not like it was in 2010 [during the U.S. occupation of Iraq]: We're there at the invitation of the Iraqi government, so it's not for us to say what they should allow, what they shouldn't allow."

"It's their country. Our only concern would be if there are any type of force protection issues. Like I said, we have a pretty good understanding of what's in the air."

Analysts and opponents of Iran's role in the Middle East have warned that though Iran and the U.S. presently share a mutual threat, they likely do not have similar long-term visions for the region.

Joseph Bahout, a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former adviser to the French foreign ministry, told HuffPost last month that he believes Iran has likely decided what it wants the Middle East to be: "a quagmire of open low-intensity fighting for years."

Talks on Iran's nuclear program, a deal on which is seen as the first step towards reintegrating Iran into the international community and reining in its ambitions, are set to resume this month.

Outbackjack: Blackadder eat your heart out.

dave3974: iran is a better option than isis

duncan124:

Captain Canada: Bombs away from Iran, just a little good gesture from your local (western countries and Jewish state claim that Iran is the regions terrorist supporters and nuclear power hungry ) bully

dave3974: it shows what a mess the Us have made in the region , Iran are now the moderates and the US are not prepared to claen up the disaster they have made

chronology: dave3974 'The 'mess' in the region is the result of 20 years of Iraq's aggression against Iran then Kuwait. Then ten years savage sanctions against Iraq. The U.S. led liberation was the best chance of getting back on it's feet Iraq had. The Iraqi Government chose to reject U.S. offers help in maintaining order. That was their privilege as a sovereign country. We all wish the Iraqi Police and Military every success in defending themselves against the IS brigands, but really they could have benefited from U.S. support. Britain could have assisted with Special Forces alongside the U.S. it would have taken much of the burden off the shoulders of hard worked Iraqi Police and Army staff.

ghostgeek: It just seems to comfirm the age-old adage that if you don't kill them first, they'll kill you. People in the Middle East used to understand that very well and there was peace. Now there is talk of democracy and human rights and all they seem to get is conflict.

Outbackjack: "The 'mess' in the region is the result of 20 years of Iraq's aggression against Iran then Kuwait."

You mean the time when the U.S was offering arms to Iraq?
You mean the time when the U.S was offering vital satellite information to Iraq to use against Iran?

Maybe you are talking about this only 1 year after he had used chemical weapons on his own people:

chronology: Jack you fine fellow you have this obsession with the U.S.A.

Jack will you at least confirm a few points; The U.S.A. was simply one of many countries selling Arms at that time. The most devastating weapons used in the Iran/Iraq war were Exocet Missiles, the U.S. does not manufacture or sell Exocet's. Yes the U.S. had a policy of selling weapons to countries at war at that time. Argentina was outraged at the U.S. selling Sidewinder Missiles to Britain during the Falkland war. The Sidewinder's were vital to defend against airborne Exocet's.

The U.S. urged Britain and Argentina to seek a peaceful resolution to their dispute just as they urged Iraq and Iran to resolve their dispute by negotiations not war.

Outbackjack: We could go on agreeing with each other all day about other countries that sell arms.

You quite clearly blamed Iraqs aggression as the cause of the mess in the Middle East.Saddam was an absolute lunatic but you conveniently ignore the puppetmaster.

chronology: Jack, what we know of Saddam is that he was absolutely no ones 'puppet' Saddam did his own thing his own way.

To this day there are Iraqis who insist that 'Kuwait was stealing our Oil' and 'Iran was trying to topple our Government' they were 'defending themselves' they insist. Historians will have to decide that argument.

Outbackjack: He was a puppet until he invaded Kuwait.Though some say he was even goaded into that by the U.S.

Captain Canada: If the maniac was a puppet,someone was pulling the strings.

chronology: Again Jack, with respect, you see America as 'the hidden hand behind all events' what we know of Saddam is that he panicked at the scenes coming out of Iran of people being strung up from lamp posts after the Islamic Revolution. He was convinced the fanatics in Iran were plotting the same fate for him. He was not entirely wrong, religious rivals in Iran did want to extend their power base across the boarder into Iraq. But he was no puppet of the U.S. he definitely had his own fears and suspicions that drove him to war. Kuwait was all about 'side angle drilling' of oil wells that Saddam was convinced was robbing Iraq of billions of dollars of oil each year. But practically every nation condemned Saddam's invasion of Kuwait as a blatant violation of International law. What followed was years of sanctions misery for the Iraqi people. Again Jack, where was the U.S. hand in all this?

Outbackjack: In a now famous interview with the Iraqi leader, U.S. Ambassador April Glaspie told Saddam, ‘[W]e have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait.’ The U.S. State Department had earlier told Saddam that Washington had ‘no special defense or security commitments to Kuwait.’ The United States may not have intended to give Iraq a green light, but that is effectively what it did."

chronology: Jack I have read that story myself years ago.

But it does seem a little far fetched that Saddam would just haul off and devastate Kuwait on what he presumed U.S. Officials would do.

Outbackjack: Of course he would presume what the U.S would do.

At the time the U.S was a huge consumer of Kuwaiti and Iraqi oil.

orangemoon8: It all started with iraq accusing Kuwait, of drilling sideways thru the Neutral Zone, and the Rumailia oil fields, which was suggested by some woman in an high position in US gov't, then look what happened. Now, you have iran bombing ISIS positions in Iraq, Allah forbid if ISIS usurps Iran's own oppression.......what the hell is wrong with this picture?, 25 years of this bullshit with Iraq...........what's next?

dave3974: the usa will soon have a great partnership wiyh iran

ghostgeek: I see Russia is getting in on the act. Building an airbase in Syria. Whoever is making bombs right now must be making a fortune.