Iran sides with Iraq in dispute with Turkey
BAGHDAD -- Iran says Turkey should get permission from Iraq's government to participate in the operation to take back Mosul from the Islamic State group -- a statement with which Tehran waded into a dispute over the presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi said on Monday that "it is not acceptable at all if a country, under the pretext of combating terrorism or any other crimes, tries to violate the sovereignty" of another country.
Some 500 Turkish troops stationed at a base near Mosul are training Iraqi Sunni and Kurdish forces that are taking part in the offensive, which began a week ago.
The Shiite-led government in Baghdad says the Turks are there without permission and has ordered them out. Turkey has refused, insisting it play a role in the offensive to retake Mosul, a Sunni-majority city. Shiite-majority Iran is a close ally of the Baghdad government.
