Thursday, September 14, 2006
Iranian president - U.S. troops must withdraw
Regional politics
During the second day of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's official visit to Iran, the Iranian President Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on Wednesday that America withdrawing from Iraq would end the violence and instability. He did admit that some of the instability was due to former regime elements, which al-Maliki agreed with. No public mention was made of outside interference with Iraqi affairs between the two leaders.
In Baghdad, however, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said al-Maliki underlined that Iraq wants good relations with Iran, but also that "we don't want interference in our internal affairs." Al-Dabbagh suggested money was flowing from elements in Iran to groups in Iraq, which he did not identify.
COMMENT: Historically, Iran has had close links and still does with elements of Iraq's majority Shia government which Iran protected during Saddam's era. Certain Shia militias, which are connected to parts of the Shia government and have been blamed for secatraian killings, have allegedly received support from Iran, a majority Shia country. COMMENT ENDS.
