BAGHDAD (AFP) - Iraq said on Sunday it has no evidence that Iran was supplying militias engaged in fierce street fighting with security forces in Baghdad. Government spokesman Ali
The militia has it's own arms industry and will be soon producing tanks, planes, and ICBMs in addition to the rockets, mortars and EFPs.
Asked about US reports that weapons captured from Shiite fighters bore 2008 markings suggesting Iranian involvement,
Those weapons are just cheap Chinese knockoffs.
Tehran strongly opposes the US military presence in Iraq, while Washington has repeatedly accused Iranian groups of arming and training Shiite militia groups in its neighbour.
Iran, whose ties with Washington have been severed since 1980, strongly denies the allegations.
Nope, not us, it must be the CIA or Israel.
| "Lies! All lies!" |
Dabbagh said an Iraqi parliamentary delegation which visited Iran last week had held useful discussions and secured assurances of support.
Iran pledged to supply burqas with built in bras.
"They talked frankly about the fears and concerns in Iraq," he told reporters at a news conference in the tightly-guarded Green Zone of Baghdad where the Iraqi government and the US embassy are located.
You know, the zone that is being bombarded by non-existent Iranian weapons.
He stressed that Iraq wanted closer relations with Iran. "What happened in the past is in the past," he said referring to the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
Boys will be boys.
Dabbagh said that Baghdad was keen to "reorganise" its relations with its former enemy, and that Tehran supported Baghdad government moves to curb violence.
Including midnight baskeball.
"Iran supports the government and understands the need to eliminate all militia... and allow the rule of law," Dabbagh said, adding that the Iraqi team which went to Iran had the blessing of the government but was not "official."
Reports from Teheran on Sunday said Iran had warned Iraq against using excessive force in its crackdown against Shiite militias. "We support the efforts of the Iraqi government to disarm the armed militia but we advise them not to confront the population," an official source, who was not named, told the student ISNA news agency in Tehran.
Look but don't touch.
"The official position of the Islamic republic of Iran is to support the legal Iraqi government and we will do everything to ensure the security of the country," added the source.