There are currently thousands of Iranian Revolutionary Guards stationed in a number of Iraqi cities to help Tehran regime its loss in Iraq after the ouster former Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, according to the Iranian opposition, the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The guards that are estimated to be over 7000 are stationed in Baghdad, Diyala and Salah ad-Din provinces and the cities of Samarra, Karbala, Najaf, Khaneqain, Sa adiyah and Jaloula.

The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards force (IRGC) general Mohammad Ali Jaafari told reporters last week, "The mission of the Ghods Force is external, to help Islamic movements, to expand the revolution and to provide assistance to suffering people across the world and to people who need help in such countries as Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. The Guards help the Ghods Force. It views its duty to support and defend the nations under the hegemony of America and Israel and to provide them any technology, something that is even more important than the transfer of weapons. We have announced this in the past and are fulfilling this, and will respond to questions on these anywhere."

Iran has rejected a U.S. appeal to join a global fight against Islamic State militants, the country s top religious and political figure said Monday, as Western and Arab diplomats gathered to frame strategies against the terror network that controls large areas of Iraq and Syria.

Iran s covert activities appear to be continuing unabated in countries such as Syria and Iraq. Despite Iran s public denials, for example, other information suggests Iran is increasingly involved, along with Lebanese Hizballah, in the Syria conflict. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) remains a key tool of Iran s foreign policy and power projection, in Syria and beyond. IRGC-QF has continued efforts to improve its access within foreign countries and its ability to conduct terrorist attacks.

What we now know is that Iran was the first country to send weapons and artillery to stop the extremists advance into Makhmur. But why Iran? And why weren t Iranian Kurds allowed initially to join the fight against the Islamist militants? Why is the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) - which was hiding in the mountains until it joined the fight against the extremists - roaming freely around Iraqi Kurdistan now?

Iran and its close ally President Bashar al-Assad have won the war in Syria, and the US-orchestrated campaign in support of the opposition's attempt to topple the Syrian regime has failed, senior Iranian officials have told the Guardian