Iranian foreign minister says sees no need for presence inside Iraq to help fight militants

BAGHDAD – Iran's foreign minister says his country sees no need to send fighters to help the Iraqi government battle the Islamic State group, even as Sunni militants inch closer to the Iraq-Iran border.

Speaking Sunday at a press conference in Baghdad, Mohammed Javad Zarif said "we do not believe that we need to be present inside Iraq to help our Iraqi brothers. They are very capable of doing that themselves."

An offensive by the Islamic State group across northern and western Iraq has plunged the country into its biggest crisis since the U.S. military pulled out in 2011.

This month, the Sunni militant group pushed eastward, taking control of the town of Jalula in Iraq's Diyala province, located some 30 kilometers from the Iranian border.