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State Dep’t Explains Iraqi PM’s Visit to Iran: ‘He Has to Reach Out to His Neighbors’
6/19/2015
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi meets with Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration recognizes that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi “has to reach out to his neighbors,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said Thursday in response to queries about Abadi’s meetings with Iran’s top leaders. During his visit to Tehran Abadi appears to have been accompanied by a man named by the U.S. government during the Iraqi war as responsible for attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Abadi is “the leader of a sovereign nation. Iran is an important neighbor,” Kirby told a daily press briefing, noting that Iraq’s longest border is with Iran.
“We recognize that he has to reach out to his neighbors. And oh, by the way, it hasn’t just been Iran; he’s traveled to other countries in the region as well, and he’s still working on getting his government up and going,” Kirby said. “And outreach to one’s neighbors is probably wise policy.”
Shi’ite Iran has been helping Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government in its fight against Sunni terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL). The effort has been led in recent months by Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps–Qods Force, who has been designated three times under a U.S. anti-terrorism executive order.
The U.S. is also helping Iraq’s fight against ISIS through a campaign of airstrikes and a train-and-equip program, and President Obama recently authorized the deployment of another 450 American troops, bringing the total number to around 3,550 across Iraq.
The U.S. has made two things clear about the Iranian involvement in Iraq, Kirby said.
“One, whatever they do, we don’t want them to further inflame sectarian tensions; and two, we’re not going to coordinate military activities directly with Iran.”
In Iran on Wednesday, Abadi held separate meetings with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hasan Rouhani.
On the Iranian president’s website, one of the photographs of his meeting with the Iraqi prime minister shows Rouhani greeting a man – apparently a member of the Iraqi delegation – identified by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
In 2009, the U.S. designated Muhandis, a Shi’ite militant also known as Jamal Ibrahimi, as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” (SDGT) for committing, directing or supporting acts of violence against U.S. and Iraqi forces.
A man identified by Long War Journal as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, left, shakes hands with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, with hand outstretched, appears to be presenting Muhandis to the Iranian leader. (Photo: Iran Presidency)
In the designation notice, the Treasury Department described Muhandis as an “advisor” to Qods Force leader Soleimani.
Muhandis is a leader of Khata’ib Hezbollah, a group listed by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization on the same day as Muhandis’ SDGT designation.
Almost 4,500 American personnel were killed in Iraq between 2003 and the withdrawal of the last troops at the end of 2011. Towards the latter part of the war Iran’s involvement became increasingly deadly and by mid-2010, then-U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey said he believed that groups backed by Iran were responsible for a quarter of U.S. deaths.
Khata’ib Hezbollah was one such group.
Today, Khata’ib Hezbollah is a key member of the so-called Popular Mobilization Committees, an assembly of mostly Shi’ite Iraqi groups established last year to fight against ISIS.
“Despite the Popular Mobilization Committee’s deep ties to Soleimani and Qods Force, as well as known key leaders being listed as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, the U.S. government has embraced the group as a moderating force in Iraq, and one worth backing,” wrote Long War Journal’s Bill Roggio.
Testifying on Capitol Hill last week, former Defense Intelligence Agency chief Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn called Iran’s deep involvement in Iraq “a real big problem.”
“They have Shi’a proxies, they have Shi’a militia, they have Iraqi military forces that are aligned underneath Shi’a leaders,” he said. “And the likelihood of Iran dominating Iraq, and the breakup of Iraq actually, I think is very real.”
During Abadi’s Tehran visit, Khamenei told him that Western intelligence services’ aims in Iraq was to destroy national unity and sow discord, according to a statement on the supreme leader’s official website.
“The Americans are seeking to plunder the Iraqi wealth on the one hand, as they do in some Arab countries in the region, and on the other, to impose their own demands like in the past,” Khamenei said. “But such an objective should not be allowed to be realized.”
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6/19/2015
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi meets with Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
(CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration recognizes that Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi “has to reach out to his neighbors,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said Thursday in response to queries about Abadi’s meetings with Iran’s top leaders. During his visit to Tehran Abadi appears to have been accompanied by a man named by the U.S. government during the Iraqi war as responsible for attacks on U.S. and Iraqi forces.
Abadi is “the leader of a sovereign nation. Iran is an important neighbor,” Kirby told a daily press briefing, noting that Iraq’s longest border is with Iran.
“We recognize that he has to reach out to his neighbors. And oh, by the way, it hasn’t just been Iran; he’s traveled to other countries in the region as well, and he’s still working on getting his government up and going,” Kirby said. “And outreach to one’s neighbors is probably wise policy.”
Shi’ite Iran has been helping Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government in its fight against Sunni terrorists from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL). The effort has been led in recent months by Major General Qassem Soleimani, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps–Qods Force, who has been designated three times under a U.S. anti-terrorism executive order.
The U.S. is also helping Iraq’s fight against ISIS through a campaign of airstrikes and a train-and-equip program, and President Obama recently authorized the deployment of another 450 American troops, bringing the total number to around 3,550 across Iraq.
The U.S. has made two things clear about the Iranian involvement in Iraq, Kirby said.
“One, whatever they do, we don’t want them to further inflame sectarian tensions; and two, we’re not going to coordinate military activities directly with Iran.”
In Iran on Wednesday, Abadi held separate meetings with supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hasan Rouhani.
On the Iranian president’s website, one of the photographs of his meeting with the Iraqi prime minister shows Rouhani greeting a man – apparently a member of the Iraqi delegation – identified by the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
In 2009, the U.S. designated Muhandis, a Shi’ite militant also known as Jamal Ibrahimi, as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” (SDGT) for committing, directing or supporting acts of violence against U.S. and Iraqi forces.
A man identified by Long War Journal as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, left, shakes hands with Iranian President Hasan Rouhani. Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, with hand outstretched, appears to be presenting Muhandis to the Iranian leader. (Photo: Iran Presidency)
In the designation notice, the Treasury Department described Muhandis as an “advisor” to Qods Force leader Soleimani.
Muhandis is a leader of Khata’ib Hezbollah, a group listed by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization on the same day as Muhandis’ SDGT designation.
Almost 4,500 American personnel were killed in Iraq between 2003 and the withdrawal of the last troops at the end of 2011. Towards the latter part of the war Iran’s involvement became increasingly deadly and by mid-2010, then-U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey said he believed that groups backed by Iran were responsible for a quarter of U.S. deaths.
Khata’ib Hezbollah was one such group.
Today, Khata’ib Hezbollah is a key member of the so-called Popular Mobilization Committees, an assembly of mostly Shi’ite Iraqi groups established last year to fight against ISIS.
“Despite the Popular Mobilization Committee’s deep ties to Soleimani and Qods Force, as well as known key leaders being listed as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, the U.S. government has embraced the group as a moderating force in Iraq, and one worth backing,” wrote Long War Journal’s Bill Roggio.
Testifying on Capitol Hill last week, former Defense Intelligence Agency chief Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn called Iran’s deep involvement in Iraq “a real big problem.”
“They have Shi’a proxies, they have Shi’a militia, they have Iraqi military forces that are aligned underneath Shi’a leaders,” he said. “And the likelihood of Iran dominating Iraq, and the breakup of Iraq actually, I think is very real.”
During Abadi’s Tehran visit, Khamenei told him that Western intelligence services’ aims in Iraq was to destroy national unity and sow discord, according to a statement on the supreme leader’s official website.
“The Americans are seeking to plunder the Iraqi wealth on the one hand, as they do in some Arab countries in the region, and on the other, to impose their own demands like in the past,” Khamenei said. “But such an objective should not be allowed to be realized.”
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