Foreign Correspondence

[otraque]

Iran warns Iraq over alleged Israeli presence in Kurdish north
AFP
( i am responding to a post that has much comment on this matter-wl)
TEHRAN, Oct 3 (AFP) - 10h34 - Iran said Sunday it was unable to confirm reports that Israeli agents have been operating in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq, but nevertheless warned Iraqi officials to "pay attention".

http://www.kerkuk-kurdistan.com/nuceyek.asp?ser=4&cep=1&nnimre=4171

"Regarding the presence of Israeli forces in northen Iraq, we have also heard some things," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.

"We hope this news is a lie and that Iraqi officials pay attention to the sensitivites of neighbouring countries," he warned, adding the matter was the subject of "protests" by several states on the sidelines of an Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) gathering in Turkey.

Although he said "our proof is only based on reports", he warned that any Israeli presence in northern Iraq "is not something that the Islamic and regional nations would accept, because Israel is an enemy of the region."

Speculation that Israeli agents have been operating in Iraq's Kurdish areas has been circulating for several months.

On Saturday a leading Egyptian MP charged that Israel had taken advantage of last year's US-led invasion of Iraq to deploy large numbers of it agents there to spy on neighbouring Iran and Syria.

"They can deny it all they like but it's the reality," said Mustafa Feki, the chairman of the Egyptian parliamentary foreign affairs committee and a leading member of the ruling National Democratic Party of President Hosni Mubarak.