Updated June 12, 2014 9:46 p.m. ET
BEIRUT—The threat of Sunni extremists
eclipsing the power of its Shiite-dominated Arab ally presents Iran
with the biggest security and strategic challenge it has faced since the
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
With
the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, an offshoot of al Qaeda, rapidly
gaining territory, Iran deployed Revolutionary Guards units to Iraq,
according to Iranian security officials.
Iran
has invested considerable financial, political and military resources
over the past decade to ensure Iraq emerged from U.S. war as a strategic
partner for the Islamic Republic and a strong Shiite-led state. The
so-called Shiite crescent—stretching from Iran to Iraq, Lebanon and
Syria—was forged largely as a result of this effort.
Two
Guards' units, dispatched from Iran's western border provinces on
Wednesday, were tasked with protecting Baghdad and the holy Shiite
cities of Karbala and Najaf, these security sources said.
The involvement of Iran would pose
yet another security challenge for the White House, and raises the
prospect of the U.S. and Iran fighting on the same side. The U.S.
opposes Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but with
Tehran is jointly supporting Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki.
State Department officials on
Thursday refused to outline what steps the Obama administration would
take if Iranian forces entered Iraq.
Spokeswoman
Jen Psaki said American diplomats who met with Iranian officials in
Geneva this week to discuss Tehran's nuclear program didn't raise the
issue of the Iraqi crisis.
"We've encouraged them to play a constructive role in Iraq," Ms. Psaki said about the Iranians.
Iraqi
Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, reached by phone in London, said of
the report that Iran's Revolutionary Guards were entering the fight:
"Frankly I have no idea about that. I am in London now."
Syria's
conflict has turned Iraq into an important operational base for Iran to
aid another ally, the Assad regime, which is dominated by an offshoot
of Shiite Islam. Shiite militia trained by Iran, weapons and cash have
flowed from Iran to Syria via Iraq.
"Iraq
is viewed as a vital priority in Iran's foreign policy in the region
and they go to any length to protect this interest," said Roozbeh
Miribrahimi, an independent Iran expert based in New York.
Iran has also positioned troops on
full alert along its border with Iraq and has given clearance to its air
force to bomb ISIS rebel forces if they come within about 60 miles of
Iran's border, according to an Iranian army general.
The
two IRGC battalions that moved to Iraq on Wednesday were shifted from
the Iranian border provinces of Urumieh and Lorestan, the Iranian
security officials said.
Revolutionary
Guards units that serve in Iran's border provinces are the most
experienced fighters in guerrilla warfare because of separatist ethnic
uprisings in those regions. IRGC commanders dispatched to Syria also
often come from those provinces as well.
Iran
was also considering the transfer to Iraq of Shiite volunteer troops in
Syria, if the initial deployments fail to turn the tide of battle in
favor of Mr. Maliki's government, the Iranian security officials said.
At
stake for Iran in Iraq's current tumult isn't only the survival of a
Shiite political ally in Baghdad, but the safety of Karbala and Najaf,
which along with Mecca and Medina are sacred to Shiites world-wide."The
more insecure and isolated Maliki becomes, the more he will need Iran.
The growth of ISIS presents a serious threat to Iran. So it would not be
surprising to see the Guards become more involved in Iraq," said
Alireza Nader,
a senior policy analyst at the Rand Corp.
A
spokesman for the militant group ISIS,
Abu Mohamad al-Adnani,
urged the group's Sunni fighters to march toward the
"filth-ridden" Karbala and "the city of polytheism" Najaf, where they
would "settle their differences" with Iraq's Shiite Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki.
That coarsely worded threat further
vindicated Iran's view that the fight unfolding in Iraq is an
existential sectarian battle between the two rival sects of Islam-Sunni
and Shiite—and by default a proxy battle between their patrons Saudi
Arabia and Iran.
"Until now we haven't
received any requests for help from Iraq. Iraq's army is certainly
capable in handling this," Iran's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
Marzieh Afgham
said Wednesday.
Iranian
President
Hasan Rouhani
cut short a religious celebration on Thursday and said he had to
attend an emergency meeting of the country's National Security Council
about events in Iraq.
"We, as the
Islamic Republic of Iran, won't tolerate this violence and terrorism….
We will fight and battle violence and extremism and terrorism in the
region and the world," he said in a speech.
ISIS's
rapid territorial gains in the past few days appeared to have caught
Iranian officials by surprise and opened a debate within the regime over
whether Iran should publicly enter the battle.
Iran's
chief of police,
Esmail Ahmadi-Moghaddam
said the National Security Council would consider intervening in
Iraq to "protect Shiite shrines and cities," according to Iranian media.
In
the short-term, analysts said the outcome of the crisis in Iraq will
only strengthen and increase the influence of Iran and the Revolutionary
Guards.
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