Over 15 000 Iranians have registered for suicide missions in the holy Shi’ite cities in southern Iraq, the Tehran daily Hamshahri reported on Monday.
Foruz Rajaifar, head of a local organisation for defending Islamic values, was quoted by the daily as saying that all of the volunteers were ready to defend Islam in southern Iraq or wherever else they were needed.
The registrations first started last June following attacks by coalition forces on Iraqi Muslims in the two holy cities of Najaf and Karbala in southern Iraq where the shrines of the two Shi’ite Imams Ali and Hussein are located.
The latest clashes in Najaf have once again prompted the volunteers to announce their readiness.
The Tehran government has repeatedly distanced itself from the Iranian volunteers. The initiative had nothing to do with the government, said Tehran while admitting popular sentiments against the United States and Israel in Iran.
In an interview with the television network al-Arabiya on Monday, Iraqi Defence Minister Hazim al-Shalan accused Iran of providing Shi’ite rebels in Najaf with weapons.
The Iranian foreign ministry has so far rejected all charges over interference in southern Iraq and said the officials in Baghdad should either prove their accusations or keep quiet. – Sapa-DPA