Israel Matzav

Iraqi Kurds deny the Mossad's in town

Kurdish authorities described the claims, made in previous weeks, as "untrue", after Iran's consul in regional capital Erbil said Israeli spies were using Kurdistan as a base to work against neighbouring Iran.

"This is not the first time that Iranian officials are saying this without presenting evidence or reasons," the Kurdish regional government said in a statement.

"The government is not able to be quiet faced with these accusations anymore, so we confirm to the public there are no centres or offices of Israel in Kurdistan, and we deny this accusation."

The statement continued: "It is untrue."

"This is an attempt to draw Kurdistan into the fight between Israel and Iran, and we do not want to be part of this," it said.

On May 5, Tehran's consul in Erbil, Azim Hosseini, said Iran's security agencies had found evidence that "Israelis are in Kurdistan, and they are working against Iran."

"Israelis are working under different passports and names and banners," he told Safil, a Kurdish weekly published in Erbil.

And on April 21, Iranian MP Esmaeel Kosari told Al-Alam, an Iran-based Arabic-language news channel,www.ekurd.net that Kurdistan and Azerbaijan "should know that the presence of the Zionist regime on their soil will be harmful to them."

"The neighbouring nations should not allow this regime to have any activities against Iran."

Labels: Iranian nuclear threat, Iraqi Kurds, Kurdistan, Mossad

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 1:21 PM