President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that Iran would do whatever it takes to protect holy sites in Iraq against terrorist militants fighting the Baghdad government.

Iranian President Sheikh Hasan Rouhani said Wednesday that Iran would do whatever it takes to protect holy sites in Iraq against terrorist militants fighting the Baghdad government.

"Dear Karbala, Dear Najaf, Dear Kadhimiyah and Dear Samarra, we warn the great powers and their lackeys and the terrorists, the great Iranian people will do everything to protect them," he said, naming the sites of the shrines in an emotive speech in Khoram-abad, near the Iraq border.

Rouhani on Saturday pledged to help the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government if it asked for assistance.

In his speech on Tuesday, Rouhani mentioned petitions signed by Iranians who said they were willing to fight in Iraq to destroy the terrorists and protect the holy sites, which are visited by hundreds of thousands of Iranian pilgrims annually.

"Thank God there are enough volunteers Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds in Iraq to fight the terrorists," he added.

The Iranian pledges follow a call by top religious reference Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for Iraqis to volunteer to resist the onslaught spearheaded by terrorists of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).