Army News, news from Iraq, - Army Times

Iran condemns attacks on Green Zone

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran stepped up its public support for Iraq’s government on Tuesday, denouncing attacks on the Green Zone where it is based and praising Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s crackdown against Shiite militias in the south.

The top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, repeated accusations in testimony before Congress on Tuesday that Iran supports armed Shiite factions that threaten Iraq’s stability — referring to supporters of anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who are blamed for recent rocket and mortar attacks against the U.S.-protected Green Zone and who were the target of a major crackdown earlier this month in the southern city of Basra.

But Iran’s comments highlighted how Tehran has spread its support among a range of Shiite factions in Iraq — including al-Maliki and members of his government. Iranian officials have said they played a major role in brokering a truce between al-Maliki and Sadr that ended the Basra fighting.

For the first time, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini condemned the rocket attacks on the Green Zone, the heavily fortified Baghdad neighborhood where al-Maliki’s government — as well as U.S. officials — are based.

Hosseini also denounced raids by U.S. forces against Sadr City, a sprawling Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad that al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia has been using to launch the attacks.

“We are hopeful that restraint and prudence of various Iraqi groups will provide security and peace,” Hosseini was quoted as saying on the state broadcasting company’s Web site.

A day earlier, Hosseini backed al-Maliki’s crackdown in Basra, saying it was justified and served the interests of Iraq and its neighbors.

The Basra operation sparked widespread clashes with members of al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army, who claimed the government was trying to weaken their movement ahead of provincial elections this fall in which they expect major gains against Shiite parties that work with the Americans.

Hosseini dismissed these accusations Monday when he supported the Iraqi government’s explanation that the mission was aimed at “confronting illegal armed groups who had also committed some crimes.”

“There is a difference between such groups and those who were active in the political scene in Iraq,” Hosseini told reporters, without mentioning specific names.

Sergey Barseqian, an independent Iranian political analyst, said Iran’s decision to condemn Green Zone attacks and push for the recent truce was an attempt to improve its image in Iraq.

“Iran is trying to distance itself from accusations of supporting Iraqi Shiite militia and show that Iran supports the Iraqi government,” said Barseqian.

Another independent Iranian analyst, Davood Hermidas Bavand, said the public relations push was also related to Tehran’s offer on Monday to hold a fourth round of talks with the U.S. on security in Iraq.

“Iran is trying to make the environment of upcoming Iran-U.S. talks on Iraqi security positive,” said Bavand.

Iran is close to al-Maliki, who has made several trips to Tehran, and earlier this year Mahmoud Ahmadinejad became the first Iranian president to visit Iraq since the 1979 Iranian revolution. Tehran is also close to the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a member of al-Maliki’s coalition whose Badr Brigade militia is the Mahdi Army’s sworn enemy.

The United States has accused Iran of funding, arming and training Shiite militia cells that U.S. military calls “special groups.”

“Unchecked, the special groups pose the greatest long-term threat to the viability of a democratic Iraq,” Petraeus told a Senate hearing in Washington on Tuesday.

Iran has denied providing support to Shiite militias, instead blaming the U.S. presence in Iraq for fueling violence in the country.