The Hindu : International : Iran slams U.S. on aid to Iraqi militants

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Saturday, Aug 11, 2007
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Iran slams U.S. on aid to Iraqi militants

TEHRAN: Iranian officials told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki on Friday that only a U.S. pullout would bring peace to his nation and claimed the Tehran government was doing its best to help stabilise neighbouring Iraq.

Mr. Maliki said decisions about an American pullout were between Baghdad and Washington. This issue “belongs to the Iraqis only and it is related to the readiness of the Iraqi armed forces and their ability to take over security responsibilities,” he told The Associated Press during the visit.

Mr. Maliki has long played a delicate balancing act in the bitter rivalry between his two allies, putting off Iranian calls for an American pullout while balking at U.S. pressure to take a tougher line against Tehran.

U.S. message

U.S. President George W. Bush said he hoped Mr. Maliki’s message to Tehran would be the same as the U.S. message — that Iran should halt the export of sophisticated explosive devices used to attack U.S. troops in Iraq or “there will be consequences.”

Mr. Maliki did not say whether he pressed Iran on the U.S. accusations, and the first two days of his three-day trip aimed at enlisting Iranian help in pacifying Iraq appeared to bring no concessions from America’s greatest rival in the region. Instead, Iranian officials used the spotlight to decry American involvement in Iraq, and promote their increasingly close ties with Mr. Maliki’s government.

Meeting Mr. Maliki, a fellow Shia, in the sect’s holy city of Mashhad, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said “occupation forces are responsible for the problems in all aspects of life” in Iraq.

A staunch opponent of the U.S., Ayatollah Khamenei predicted that the “U.S. policy toward Iraq will definitely fail.” — AP

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