Iran’s Brigadier Gen. Hossein Valivand has announced that Iran will assume responsibility for training the largely Shia forces fighting against ISIS under the flag of the US created Iraqui Republic.
A Pentagon official told The Daily Beast that the department was unaware of Iran’s announcement about training Iraqi officers. The official did not provide further comment on how the U.S. mission to train Iraq’s military would be impacted if Iran began a similar program.
Valivand said “Iranian military experts are prepared enough to offer training to Iraqi forces,”
Al Arabiya reported that Iraq and Iran had ”agreed to continue cooperation in the defense arena with the creation of a national army to protect the territorial integrity and security of Iraq.” A top Iranian official, Supreme National Security Council secretary Ali Shamkhani said “If don’t give their blood in Samarra, we must shed our blood… in Shiraz, Isfahan,”said, naming two Iranian cities.