Has Iran Invaded Iraq and Set Up a Fortification?

The US says no, but Iraq and the Kurds say yes.

The US military has dismissed a report that Iranian troops have crossed into the Iraqi territory in pursuit of Kurdish militants and that they are building a small fort there.
The Los Angeles Times on Wednesday quoted Kurdish officials as saying that a small contingent of Iranian forces had crossed into the Kurdish-controlled region of northern Iraq.

The Kurdish regional government's defense spokesman, Jaber Yawer, told the newspaper that about 35 Iranians were building a fortified structure high on a mountain near the Perdunaz border crossing.

"We have no evidence they (Iranians) have constructed forts or fortified positions within Iraqi territory," Major General Stephen Lanza, chief spokesman for US forces in Iraq, said Thursday in a conference call.

"Right now we have no evidence that they have actually crossed," AFP quoted Lanza as saying.

"What we would hope is that Iraq and Iran work out the issues of border operations," he said.

By: Brant