Iran's Press TV Suggests Israeli Military Buildup In Iraq

An Israeli F-16I jet fighter lands at an air base in the Negev Desert (file photo)

A report from Iranian state television suggests Israel has been gathering military aircraft at a U.S. air base in Iraq in preparation for an attack on the Islamic republic.

Iran's Press TV sourced the report to an unnamed person believed close to prominent Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The Pentagon today dismissed the report as "ridiculous."

Iraqi officials denied the report as "groundless."

An Israeli military spokeswoman said she had no knowledge of any such plan.

The report comes a day after Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, speaking at the start of Holocaust remembrance ceremony on May 1, compared the threat of modern-day Iran to that of Nazi Germany, saying that "if someone threatens to destroy us, we must not ignore their threats."

compiled from agency reports