As Iraq seeks to contain the spillover from Syria's crisis, Iran is tightening its grip on its beleaguered neighbour, writes Salah Nasrawi Visits by Iran's top brass to Baghdad in recent days have highlighted the two countries' newly emerging bilateral military and security cooperation and raised alarms about Tehran's resolve to increase its influence in Iraq. Iran's meddling in Iraq's affairs also comes amid mounting criticism to US President Barack Obama's policy in Iraq which opponents blame on the country's Shia-led government's growing alliance with Tehran following US troop withdrawal in December. Last week Iranian Defence Minister Brigadier General Ahmed Vahidi spent several days in Iraq for military talks with senior Iraqi officials. On Tuesday Tehran dispatched the commander of the Revolutionary Guards Corps Naval Force, Rear Admiral Ali Fadavi, to Iraq to discuss bilateral defence cooperation. The two high-profile visits were preceded by an unannounced trip to Iraq by General Qassim Suleimani, the shadowy commander of Iran's paramilitary Quds Force, who is seen as being the architect of Iran's policy towards its neighbour. Meanwhile, Iranian ambassador in Baghdad Hassan Danaifar said Monday President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is planning to travel to Baghdad soon for further talks on bolstering ties, another sign of Iran's resurging power in Iraq. So, why are Iranian leaders flocking the Iraqi capital en masse now as the country is facing a protracted political crisis, security deterioration, regional threats and a lingering dispute with Washington over Iran's interference in Iraq and its military supplies via Iraqi airspace to Syria? Iraqi officials are saying little about the Iranian latest visitor's foray in Baghdad. After a meeting with Vahidi, Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki said only that "Iraq wants to build good relations with all nations and in particular with the Islamic republic of Iran." But Iranian officials and Tehran's media have trumpeted the revamped contacts as an undertaking "to enhance defence ties between Iran and Iraq" and as "a force of example" to the rest of the region. That could be just propaganda but it nevertheless reflects how influential Iranian officials have become in Iraq since the country was subjected to US invasion in 2003. Vahidi, the first Iranian defence minister to visit Iraq since the two countries went into war more than 30 years ago, arrived in Baghdad hours after Iraq stopped and inspected a Damascus-bound Iran Air cargo plane from Tehran in compliance with American demands. While Iran's envoy to Baghdad protested against the move and demanded a halt to the practice, Vahidi managed to snatch a more important prize by making Iraq sign a defence cooperation agreement with Iran. Iraq and Iran fought a war in 1980-1988 which cost the two nations some one million casualties and signing such an agreement could usher in a new era between their two armies and will most certainly allow Tehran's regime to deepen its imprint in Iraq. Vahidi's visit came a week after a clandestine visit by Suleimani, the mastermind behind Tehran's influence in Iraq. Kurdish newspaper Awene said last Tuesday that Suleimani travelled to Kurdistan where he was reported to have asked Iraqi Kurdish leaders to distance themselves from Turkey, including its efforts to remove Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad from power. To many Iraqis, however, Iran's political crusade in Iraq represents nothing less than an affront to their patriotism and a flagrant interference in their country's affairs. Its rising meddling is well manifested in backing Iraq's Shia political parties which were sheltered in Iran under Saddam's regime. Iran is also believed to back Shia militias in Iraq with weapons, training and funding. One-way trade between Iraq and Iran has been growing rapidly ever since the American-led invasion that toppled Saddam and Tehran's exports and investment are estimated at $ 10 billion, second only to Turkey. However, Iran's play for influence in Iraq isn't limited to politics and commerce. Religious ties have also been reinforced with thousands of Iranian pilgrims flocking to holy Shia sites in Iraq daily. Many Iranian Shia clerics have moved to Iraq in recent years where they are wielding considerable influence. In recent weeks huge posters of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have hit the streets in Baghdad and many other Iraqi cities provoking dismay about the authorities' inaction or complicity. Last year Iran's First Vice President Mohamed Ridha Rihaimi suggested that Iraq and Iran should create an alliance that could lay foundations for "a great international power". He noted the two countries' "special relations", and how both were facing "international conspiracies due to their beliefs and goals." In January, Iranian student news agency ISNA quoted Suleiman as saying the Islamic Republic controls Iraq and south Lebanon "one way or another". Such arrogant statements show that Iranian officials are lacking political antennae on the ground in Iraq and they only focus on building relationships with Shia government officials, without paying any attention to domestic political nuances. Iraqi Sunni Arabs are totally opposed to Iran while Kurds are sceptical about its ambitions in their self-ruled region in northern Iraq. To many Iraqi commentators and politicians Iran comes to represent everything that they hate about foreign hegemony. In an interview with the American network on 28 September Iraqi Kurdish Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari acknowledged the existence of "Iranian influence" in his country. "No one can deny it, but we are almost in the case of a conflict to protect the territorial integrity of Iraq and its sovereignty and independence of any Iranian interference," he said. "Iranian interference in Iraq is very bad and the public and secret visits are manifestations of that," Hamza Al-Kirtani, a lawmaker of the Sunni Iraqiya bloc told Iraqi newspaper Al-Mada on Sunday. "Iraq's political decision is mortgaged to Iran," he said. Indeed, even most Iraqi Shia Arabs seem in no mood to accept Iran's domination even though they share a religious creed with the Persian nation and might need its support and defence against Sunni extremists, such as Al-Qaeda group. This leaves Al-Maliki and other Shia politicians in an awkward position as they are being seen behind Iran's free rein in Iraq. They might be driven by fear that the turmoil next door could spill into Iraq and eventually make them lose hard won power to Sunni minority who lost out since Saddam's fall but they should avoid giving the impression that they are complicit with Iran. The Iraqi Shia leadership is not only facing Kurdish and Sunni opposition to its alliance with Iran but also Sunni Arab neighbours who have never come to terms with Shia rule in Baghdad. Moreover, they are increasingly facing US pressure and accusations that the Baghdad government is skirting economic sanctions imposed on Tehran and allow weapons airlifts to Syria. There are indications that Washington will readjust Obama's Iraq's exit strategy after the presidential election next month which could entail a completely different approach to bilateral relations and regional perspectives and interests. On Monday, Republican candidate Mitt Romney called for an escalation of the conflict in Syria by arming rebels with the heavy weapons needed to confront Bashar Al-Assad's army. In a major foreign policy speech in which he criticised Obama's policies towards Iraq and Iran, Romney opened up the prospect, if he becomes president, of a US-Iranian proxy war being fought in Syria. Given the high risk involved for Iraq, the Iraqi Shia leadership must carefully re-evaluate its behaviour, including dispelling widely held assumptions that its relations with Iran are tantamount to actual subordination. Neither mindedness of self-identity nor fear of regional spillovers can justify giving Iran a free reign in Iraq.
