Irans role in Iraq is unlikely to include combat

June 21, 2014

Thousands of Iranians have signed up online or at religious offices throughout the Islamic republic to join Iraq's fight against advancing al-Qaeda-inspired militants, but the volunteers, many of them of Iraqi origin, are unlikely to see combat anytime soon.

While Iran's leaders and many Shiites living here have offered whatever it might take to bolster Iraq's government and defend Shiite holy sites, the public show of support is taking the form of cheerleading for now, not the dispatch of organized fighting forces.