Iran has launched air strikes on Islamic State, says Pentagon

US secretary of state John Kerry flew to Brussels for talks with western allies on Wednesday, as the Pentagon said Iran had launched attacks on the Islamic State (IS) group in Iraq.

Speaking at a press conference in Brussels, Mr Kerry declined to confirm if Iran had launched air strikes in recent days. “I am not going to make any announcements or confirm or deny the reported military action of another country in Iraq. It is up to them [the Iranians] or up to the Iraqis to do that if it did indeed take place,” Mr Kerry said. He added the US was not co-ordinating military activity with Iran.

Pentagon officials said US intelligence believed Iran had launched air strikes against targets in Iraq, but stressedIran was acting alone. "Nothing has changed about our policy of not co-ordinating military activity with the Iranians," the Pentagon's spokesman said in Washington.

Mr Kerry met foreign ministers and officials from the western nations participating in the coalition against IS at Nato headquarters in Brussels, before taking part in meetings with EU officials, including the EU's new foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini.

Terrible crimes

Mr Kerry said the US-led air strikes were “already having a significant impact” in the fight against IS. While IS was “still perpetrating terrible crimes”, he said there was a consensus “the momentum which it had exhibited 2½ months ago has been halted”. The air strikes had “reduced Daesh’s [IS] leadership and inflicted damage on its logistical and operational capabilities,” he said.

Iraq’s prime minister, Haider al-Abad, also attended the meeting at Nato headquarters.

The reported Iranian air strikes would represent a significant development in the fight against IS. Tehran, which backs the Shia-dominated government in Iraq, has long been an opponent of IS, and Iranian forces are believed to be fighting on the ground.

Tehran has already sent senior military commanders to help Iraq in the battle against the Sunni insurgents who have claimed large swathes of Iraq and Syria.

Tehran denials

Reuters reported a senior Iranian official denied air attacks had taken place: “Iran has never been involved in any air strikes against Daesh [IS] targets in Iraq. Any co-operation in such strikes with America is also out of question for Iran.”

According to reports in US media, American-made F4 Phantom jets had been used by the Iranian air force to attack IS positions in Diyala.

Washington, which severed relations with Iran after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, blocked involvement by Iran in US-led attacks on IS in September.

Belgium

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France

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Denmark

and the UK are partaking in US-led air strikes against IS in Iraq and Syria.