Given that no other media outlet has corroborated this story, I’m skeptical. Tikrit is populated by Sunni Arabs. I’d be surprised if an American division could capture in a day, let alone a few Iranian battalions.
Saddam must be spinning in his grave at the thought of Persian Shiite Quds forces in his hometown. The Sunnis there are not going to stand by and let this happen.
The Iranian Quds probably have a more liberal interpretation of their rules of engagment than we do. Particularly when dealing with “civilians.”
I am also. But I suspect Iranians are entering Iraq. In other locations government forces numbering in the thousands appear to be collapsing before zealots numbering in the hundreds. The government army and police the US established appear to be both cowardly and compromised. In 1972 in Viet Nam when really large NVA forces attacked the ARVN a number of compromised or covert communist sleepers in responsible positions aided significantly in creating a major disaster in I Corps. This being an Arab country it goes without saying that duplicity and treasonable conduct is common and the government forces are filled with sleepers or other Fifth Columnists.