AFP, Washington :
The United States and its allies have received no request from Iraq to carry out air strikes in support of Baghdad government troops fighting to recapture Tikrit, the Pentagon said Monday.
The Iraqi operation to take back Tikrit from Islamic State jihadists is the largest-scale offensive yet launched by Baghdad and Shiite militia backed by neighboring Iran were playing a key role.
But the US-led coalition, which has conducted thousands of air strikes against the IS group to back up Iraqi and Kurdish forces on the ground, is not providing air power for the latest Iraqi offensive, officials said.
“We’re not providing air strikes in support of the operation around Tikrit,” Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told reporters.
It was unclear if Tehran’s role may have been a factor in the US-led coalition’s absence.
The assault on IS in Tikrit included Iraqi aircraft but it was unclear if Iranian planes were also involved.
Both Iraqi and Iranian media reported that Qassem Soleimani-commander of the Al-Quds Force cover operations unit of Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards-was in the area to help oversee operations.
Warren declined to say whether US surveillance aircraft were providing intelligence for the Tikrit operation.
But a Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that American planes were assisting with intelligence and reconnaissance.
Warren stressed that Iraq was a sovereign country and it was up to the government in Baghdad to decide when it required military assistance from coalition warplanes.
“We were aware of the operation before it started but I’m not going to get into the details of what degree of cooperation we conducted before this,” he said.
Sydney reports adds: Australia announced on Tuesday it will send another 300 troops to Iraq in a joint mission with New Zealand to help train local forces fighting to reclaim territory seized by the Islamic State group.
The decision follows Wellington last week deciding to deploy some 140 soldiers in a non-combat role to boost the Iraqi military’s ability to battle the jihadists.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the decision followed a formal request from the Iraqi and US governments with the mission intended to span two years.
“I want to stress that we haven’t taken this decision lightly. Ultimately, it is Iraq that must defeat the death cult (Islamic State) but we do not want to leave the Iraqis on their own,” he told reporters.
“We are naturally reluctant as a peace-loving people to reach out to far-away conflicts but, as we know, this conflict has been reaching out to us for months now.”
