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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iran: No talks until U.S. stops Iraq attacks |
| 2008-05-05 |
| An Iranian official says the government wants the United States to stop its "savage attacks" in Iraq before its envoys hold more talks with U.S. and Iraqi officials, Iran's Fars News Agency reported. IOW: It's all America's fault until they capitulate. "Under the current circumstances and given the U.S. widespread attacks against Iraqi people in different cities, Iran does not feel these negotiations are necessary," an unnamed official told Fars. The official -- described as a senior member of Iran's negotiating team -- delivered the remarks as U.S. and Iraqi troops have been fighting Shiite militants in Baghdad and in Basra. The Bush administration says many of these fighters have backing from Iranian agents. Iran and the United States held three meetings in Baghdad last year to discuss improving security in Iraq. Two meetings were at the ambassadorial level and one was at the expert level. Iraqi officials hosted the meetings. The report noted that an Iranian delegation went to Baghdad in March for a fourth round of talks. But U.S. officials said at the time that no meeting had been planned and the delegation returned to Iran. U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said last month that the United States was ready for another session. But the Iranian official told Fars that "if U.S. savage attacks against the Iraqi people are stopped, we will examine the U.S. request for a fourth round of talks." Hopefully this is just another dotted i or crossed t. This came after a five-member Iraqi delegation confronted Iranian officials in Tehran last week with evidence that Iran is smuggling weapons into Iraq and training Iraqi militants. The Iranians vehemently denied the charges, according to one member of the delegation, Haidar al-Abadi. Al-Abadi, a lawmaker and member of al-Maliki's Dawa Party, did not explain what the "evidence" was, but said "the Iranian side was hurt" by the allegations. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will form a committee to document what it calls Iranian "interference" in Iraqi affairs. Iran has long-standing ties to Iraq's Shiite parties, including the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, which is the dominant party in the United Iraqi Alliance, a coalition of several parties. The Islamic Supreme Islamic Council in Iraq dominates the country's security forces. The United Iraqi Alliance and the Kurdish Alliance are the ruling entities in the Iraqi government. But U.S. commanders say Iranian support for "criminal" Shiite militias now battling Iraqi and American troops in Baghdad has begun to alarm the country's U.S.-backed government. U.S. and Iraqi forces say they are battling "outlaws" and Iranian-backed Special Groups in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood, which is a stronghold of anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's Mehdi Army militia. A spokesman for al-Sadr criticized the move to send an Iraqi delegation to Tehran, saying the issue should be settled in Iraq between Sadrists and the Iraqi government. The delegation did not meet with al-Sadr, who is believed to be in Iran. Meanwhile, fighting raged between U.S. troops and Shiite militants in Baghdad from Sunday night to Monday morning. The U.S. military reported the deaths of 10 militants and Iraqi Interior Ministry officials said 11 people, including civilians, were killed. Lt. Col. Steve Stover, a U.S. military spokesman, said three "Special Group criminals" were killed and another wounded Sunday night in northeastern Sadr City, while three "militants" were killed in the eastern neighborhood of New Baghdad. An Interior Ministry spokesman said Monday that at least six were killed and 41 wounded in overnight fighting in Sadr City. Stover said three militants were killed and two civilians were wounded in western Baghdad's Amil district. He said U.S. troops fired at gunmen who ambushed them with small arms fire and requested air support. Warplanes shot three Hellfire missiles at militant targets, he said. An Interior Ministry official said U.S. airstrikes in Amil destroyed an apartment, killing five people and wounding eight. Among the dead were a father, a mother and their daughter, an official said. The U.S. military said its soldiers called for air support in the Kadhimiya district of northern Baghdad, a Shiite enclave, after fighters shot at them with small arms and rocket-propelled grenades. An AC-130 engaged the target with 40 mm rounds and killed one "criminal." |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #6 But wait, I thought that negotiations were magic in and of themselves. Haven't the Iranians consulted the many academics, "analysts", presidential candidates and their advisers (incl. a few to the grumpy old guy) - surely they'd be told that negotations could not be spurned. Then again, as suggested above, it's probably that we're kicking ass, the various Iranian players are in disarray, and everyone's too nervous to authorize any more "talks" (at which, I believe, the main agenda item is Crocker bitch-slapping them - pretty good, for a State employee - as the Iranians bristle and pretend not to be guilty as hell). |
| Posted by: Verlaine 2008-05-05 22:55 |
| #5 answer: "Okay, we'll wait, we're not done killin' yet" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2008-05-05 21:14 |
| #4 ASIA TIMES > IRAN BUILDS MORE BRIDGES, + IRAN MOVES INTO THE BIG LEAGUE [Regional Power to Global Power]. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-05-05 20:43 |
| #3 Only in Basra. Mosul is next. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2008-05-05 18:19 |
| #2 "Savage attacks", eh? Somebody's proxy army getting it's ass kicked maybe? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-05-05 16:28 |
| #1 Until we stop killing their allies in Iraq. Hmmm.... sounds like we need to shift our targets a little to the east. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-05-05 16:25 |