Intelligence

SAS raiders enter Iran to kill gunrunners

SAS raiders enter Iran to kill gunrunners - Times Online

Michael Smith BRITISH special forces have crossed into Iran several times in recent months as part of a secret border war against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’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 Shi’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.

Last week, Bob Ainsworth, the armed forces minister, said the Ministry of
Defence was unable to say whether British troops had killed or captured any
Iranians in Iraq. The ministry declined to comment, but privately officials
insisted British troops never carry out hot pursuit across the border.

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.

The fighting comes amid an increase in US and British intelligence operations
against Iran. Britain’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.

The Al-Quds force has been increasing its arms supplies to both the Shi’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

Liam Fox, the Conservative defence spokesman, said: “Increasingly Iran poses a
direct threat to our armed forces and our wider interests . . . they are
playing a very dangerous game.”

October 20, 2007 at 10:08 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home