 BRITISH special forces have crossed into Iran several times in recent months as part of a secret border war against the Iranian Revolutionary GuardÂ’s Al-Quds special forces, defence sources have disclosed. There have been at least half a dozen intense firefights between the SAS and arms smugglers, a mixture of Iranians and ShiÂ’ite militiamen.
The unreported fighting straddles the border between Iran and Iraq and has also involved the Iranian military firing mortars into Iraq. UK commanders are concerned that Iran is using a militia ceasefire to step up arms supplies in preparation for an offensive against their base at Basra airport.
An SAS squadron is carrying out operations along the Iranian border in Maysan and Basra provinces with other special forces, the Australian SAS and American special-operations troops.
They are patrolling the border, ambushing arms smugglers bringing in surface-to-air missiles and components for roadside bombs. “Last month, they were involved in six significant contacts, which killed 17 smugglers and recovered weapons, explosives and missiles,” a source said. It was not clear if any of the dead were Iranian.
| Could have been Samoans, you never know ... |
There have been persistent reports of American special-operations missions inside Iran preparing for a possible attack. But the sources said British troops were solely stopping arms smuggling.
| Works for me. Let the SAS do their job and our SF guys will do theirs ... |
The fighting comes amid an increase in US and British intelligence operations against Iran. BritainÂ’s forces have more than 70 Farsi experts monitoring Iranian communications, and the intelligence is shared with the United States. Seven American U2 spy planes have passed through RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire this year on their way to Akrotiri in Cyprus or Al-Dhafra in Abu Dhabi, the bases for flights over Iran.
| Oh great, let's disclose more of our intel effort to the public sphere, the Iranians will never figure it out ... |
The Al-Quds force has been increasing its arms supplies to both the ShiÂ’ite militias in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Officially, Britain has been careful not to blame the Iranian government. But senior British officials have confirmed to The Sunday Times that it would not happen without the backing of the Iranian leadership. They pointed out that Gen Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Al-Quds force, has direct access to Ayatollah Khamenei, supreme leader of Iran.
| Correct. That's why it's perfectly okay for the SAS and US SFs to whack the Al Quds guys and the gun-runners, and why we shouldn't say a word about it publicly. Sauce, goose, gander ... |
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