Iran marks 40-km red zone inside Iraq to stop IS: commander

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) Iran has marked a 40-km red zone into the Iraqi border to thwart any infiltration attempt into its soil by the Islamic State (IS) group, an Iranian army commander said on Tuesday.

The Iranian army has warned the IS militants against any movement towards the Iranian border since the “terrorist” group has entered Iraq, Brigadier General Ahmad-Reza Pourdastan, commander of the Iranian army’s ground forces, was quoted by Press TV as saying.

“When IS Takfiri terrorists penetrated western Iraq and were close to the Iranian borders, the ground forces (of Iran’s army) were fully ready to annihilate them,” the commander said.

“We marked a red line of 40 kilometers into the Iraqi soil and warned (them) that they will face Iran’s harsh response if they cross the line,” he said.

Pourdastan said that the Iranian army is fully familiar with tactics used by terrorists and closely monitors their movement inside Iraq.

On Monday, local media reported that Iran’s border police arrested three people armed with explosives as they tried to cross Iran’s northwestern border to join IS fights in Iraq./End/