|
Iran warns US over Iraq
23/05/2004 14:18 - (SA)
Tehran - Iran has sent a "formal warning" to the United States over American policy in neighbouring Iraq, foreign ministry spokesperson Hamid Reza Asefi said on Sunday, as he branded Washington immoral and deceitful.
The situation in Iraq is serious and this is why we have addressed the necessary warning," he told a press conference.
Shiite Muslim-dominated Iran has voiced alarm in recent days at fighting around the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala between US-led coalition forces and the militia of radical cleric Moqtada Sadr, for which it blames the United States.
It opposed the invasion of Iraq to topple Saddam Hussein's regime, with which it fought an eight-year war in the 1980s, and has called for the US-led coalition to withdraw rapidly and hand back power to the Iraqis.
Violent demonstrations have been staged recently outside the British embassy in Tehran against the actions of the United States and its main ally Britain in Iraq.
Washington has no diplomatic relations with Tehran and the warning - the first to be made public at least since the Iraq war began - was passed by diplomatic channels through the Swiss embassy here, which represents US interests in Iran.
"We want several things for Iraq, the most important of which are the departure of the occupation forces as quickly as possible and the restitution of authority to the Iraqi people themselves," Asefi said.
The United States accuses Iran of influencing Iraq's own Shiite majority to destabilise the country, and allowing foreign fighters to cross its borders into Iraq.
Asefi also insisted that the People's Mujahedeen, the main armed opposition organisation to the Islamic republic, be expelled from Iraq, where they have been held in a base under US guard.
"They should already have been expelled from Iraq, though they are still under American protection," Assefi said.
"What we see here is the hypocrisy and immoral approach of the Americans."
The People's Mujahedeen operated out of bases in Iraq under the protection of Saddam's regime, but were disarmed by US forces and some 4 000 of its members in Ashraf camp, 100km northeast of Baghdad, not far from the Iranian border.
Tehran has promised no harm to the ones who repent and return as long as they do not have "blood on their hands."
The provisional Iraqi authorities announced on December 9 their intention to expel the Mujahedeen from Iraq by the end of the year but this has not happened.
Asefi said the situation in Iraq had changed following "the torture of prisoners" by US troops and "attacks on the holy places."
- AFP
|
News
