DHAKA: The United States has done ‘nothing’ to help Iraq’s army battle militants in Ramadi, according to a senior Iranian general involved in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria.

Qassem Suleimani, the Revolutionary Guards’ commander of foreign operations, hit out at Washington after Pentagon chief Ashton Carter said Iraqi forces ‘failed to fight’ in Ramadi, which has fallen to IS.

‘Mr (Barack) Obama, what is the distance between Ramadi and Al-Asad base where US planes are based?’ Suleimani said in a speech late Sunday in the southern province of Kerman carried by state news agency IRNA.

‘How can you be in that country under the pretext of protecting the Iraqis and do nothing? This is no more than being an accomplice in a plot.’

Shia Iran has military advisers in Iraq and Syria and provides financial and military support to the governments of both countries in their battle against Sunni extremists, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1900 HRS, MAY 25, 2015
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