Jihadists control ‘75%’ of Iraq’s largest oil refinery in Baiji

"The militants have managed to break in to the refinery. Now they are in control of the production units, administration building and four watch towers. This is 75 per cent of the refinery," an official speaking from inside the refinery said.

(Photo: AP)

He says clashes continue near the main control room with security forces.

President Barack Obama. (Photo AP)

US senator Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the Senate, said on Tuesday that President Barack Obama had invited the leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives to the White House on Wednesday for a meeting on Iraq.

He told reporters at the Capitol that he, Senate majority leader Harry Reid, house Speaker John Boehner and house Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi had been invited.

A White House official confirmed the meeting, describing it as part of Obama's "ongoing consultations" with congressional leaders on foreign policy issues, including Iraq.

McConnell said he was looking forward to the meeting.

"I'm anxious to hear what he has to say. He's the president of the United States," the Kentucky lawmaker said.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. (Photo: AP)

Iran will not hesitate to defend Shia Muslim holy sites in neighbouring Iraq against "killers and terrorists", Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday, following rapid advances by Sunni militants there over the past week.

Speaking on live television, Rouhani said many people had signed up to go to Iraq to defend the sites and "put the terrorists in their place". He added that veteran fighters from Iraq's Sunni, Shia and Kurdish communities were also "ready for sacrifice" against these militant forces.

Egyptian Foreign Minister, Sameh Shukri meets his Saudi counterpart,
Prince Saud al-Faisal. (Photo: AP)

Saudi Arabia gave an apparent warning to arch-enemy Iran on Wednesday by saying outside powers should not intervene in the conflict in neighbouring Iraq. Foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal also said Iraq was facing a full-scale civil war with grave consequences for the wider region.

His remarks coincided with an Iranian warning that Tehran would not hesitate to defend Shia Muslim holy sites in Iraq against "killers and terrorists", following advances by Sunni militants there.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, an ally of Iran, has appealed for national unity with Sunni critics of his Shia-led government after a stunning offensive through the north of the country by Sunni Islamist militants over the past week.

Maliki has accused Saudi Arabia of backing the militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), who want to carve out a Sunni caliphate in the heart of the Middle East.

Speaking at a gathering of Arab and Muslim leaders in Jeddah, Prince Saud urged nations racked by violence to meet the "legitimate demands of the people and to achieve national reconciliation (without) foreign interference or outside agendas".

"This grave situation that is storming Iraq carries with it the signs of civil war whose implications for the region we cannot fathom," he said.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. (Photo: AP)

He did not elaborate but the remarks appeared aimed at Shia Iran, which is also an ally of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The prince said the three-year-old civil war in Syria, where a largely Sunni Muslim uprising has failed to unseat Assad, had "helped to deepen the internal disturbance in Iraq".

On Monday, Saudi Arabia blamed the Iraqi crisis on Maliki, citing what it called years of "sectarian and exclusionary policies" by his government against Iraq's Sunni minority. Maliki and several Iranian officials have for months alleged that several Gulf Arab governments support ISIS.

And on Saturday, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said that "terrorist groups" were getting financial and political backing and weaponry from countries in the region and powerful Western states. He named no countries, but was alluding in part to Sunni Gulf Arabs.

Saudi Arabia and Iran had begun in recent months to explore ways to lower the temperature of what is widely seen as the region's most destructive bilateral relationship.

Not only do Tehran and Riyadh share the fear that Iraq may disintegrate into a sectarian bloodbath dangerous to all, in the short term ISIS's advance is likely to raise suspicions between them.

While Tehran sees Gulf Arab hands behind ISIS, Riyadh fears not only that Iran will intervene in Iraq but that it will do so in coordination with Iran's traditional adversary Washington, which is equally keen to roll back ISIS's territorial gains.

Any such cooperation on Iraq would advance Tehran's own tentative detente with the United States, a process the Islamic Republic began last year by agreeing to talks with major powers on its nuclear programme.