• Farther to the north, in the last major engagement before the August 1988 cease-fire, Iraqi armored and mechanized forces penetrated deep into Iran, defeating Iranian forces and capturing huge amounts of armor and artillery. (globalsecurity.org)
  • Without diminishing the horror of either war, Iranian losses in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war appear modest compared with those of the European contestants in the four years of World War I, shedding some light on the limits of the Iranian tolerance for martyrdom. (globalsecurity.org)
  • Iran agreed to the release of 5,584 Iraqi POW's in April 1998, and news organizations reported intermittent meetings throughout the remainder of the year between Iranian and Iraqi government officials toward reaching a final agreement on the remaining POW's held by each side. (globalsecurity.org)
  • The Iranian government pledged to settle the remaining POW issues with Iraq in 1999. (globalsecurity.org)
  • The U.S. and Iraq are trying to bang out the details of America's military mission, but just so there are no ideas, Maliki let his Iranian allies know, "We will not allow Iraq to become a platform for harming the security of Iran and neighbors. (truthdig.com)
  • BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in Baghdad Sunday for the start of a historic two-day trip, said 'visiting Iraq without the dictator is a good thing. (cnn.com)
  • The Shiite-led Iraqi government rolled out the red carpet, literally, for Ahmadinejad as he became the first Iranian president to visit Iraq, a country that was a bitter enemy when Saddam Hussein's Sunni government was in power. (cnn.com)
  • My visit to Iraq is to the benefit of all countries, because if there's peace, if we establish peace and put an end to (U.S.) occupation, that will be to the benefit of all countries,' the Iranian leader told Tehran-based Press TV before his departure. (cnn.com)
  • Iran has shown it has the ability to bolster stability in the region," says Iranian political analyst Amir Mohebian. (arabnews.com)
  • The space could soon emerge for an ISIS resurgence, and with that a catastrophic convulsion that could unfold if Iraq is yet again caught between incessant attacks by ISIS and Iranian proxy groups which have been responsible for systemic, near-daily human rights atrocities. (brookings.edu)
  • The release Friday of five Iranians held by the U.S. military in Iraq for two and a half years highlights the long-simmering conflict between the U.S. and Iraqi views of Iranian policy in Iraq and of the role of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) there. (counterpunch.org)
  • State Department spokesman Ian Kelly expressed concern that the five Iranian detainees being released were "associated with" the Quds Force of the Iranian and could endanger U.S. troops in Iraq. (counterpunch.org)
  • The idea that the Quds Force was fighting a "proxy war" against U.S. and Iraqi troops was the justification for the George W. Bush administration's decision in late 2006 to target any Iranian found in Iraq who could plausibly be linked to the IRGC. (counterpunch.org)
  • After Mahmoud Farhadi was kidnapped by the U.S. military from a hotel in the Kurdish city of Suleimaniya in September 2007, a U.S. military spokesman made the spectacular claim that Farhadi was an IRGC commander responsible for all Iranian operations inside Iraq. (counterpunch.org)
  • The view from Iran is very different: Iranian officials and analysts say they too want a stable Iraq. (wshu.org)
  • Iraq relies on imports of Iranian gas and electricity for its power sector, and a range of goods and materials that support Iraqi industries, including construction. (tcf.org)
  • The United States has signaled its willingness to allow Iraq to continue importing Iranian gas and electricity without sanctions in exchange for an extended military occupation, according to reports. (rt.com)
  • The strikes were reported after Iranian authorities accused armed Iranian Kurdish dissidents of attacking and infiltrating Iran from the northwest of the country to sow insecurity and riots and spread unrest, especially in the northwest where most of the country's population of over 10 million Kurds live. (dawn.com)
  • The Americans can't simply withdraw from Iraq, leaving the mess as it is,' Mojtahedzadeh said in a telephone interview from the Iranian capital afterward. (military-quotes.com)
  • But someone like me being on the record on Iranian radio and TV saying it's not wise to push the U.S. out of Iraq because the aggressor, according to international laws, has the duty of putting things back in place, this tells you everything,' he said. (military-quotes.com)
  • The destruction of oil terminals on Iran's Kharg Island, which Iraq has threatened to do, would be a devastating blow to the Iranian economy. (csmonitor.com)
  • In an interview on Iranian TV last week, Hojatolislam Rafsanjani hinted that Iran might use the estimated 7 billion barrels reserve of the Majnoon Island to finance reconstruction in war-ravaged areas. (csmonitor.com)
  • He explains that although he was born in Iraq, he is of Iranian ancestry. (unhcr.org)
  • This was the first time in recent years that Iran honored this many victims of the 1980s war at one once, Hassan Hassanzadeh, a Revolutionary Guard general, told Iranian state TV. (newsweek.com)
  • Iranian women mourn next to flag-draped caskets of unknown soldiers who were killed during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, whose remains were recently recovered from former battlefields, during their funeral procession in Tehran, Iran, Thursday, January 6, 2022. (newsweek.com)
  • The funeral also comes just days before Iran marks the two-year anniversary of the Iranian military's downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane with two surface-to-air missiles, killing all 176 people on board - a tragedy that ignited an outburst of unrest across Iran and further damaged its relations with the West. (newsweek.com)
  • TEHRAN, Iran - A senior Iranian military official says Iran is ready to help Iraq battle al-Qaida 'terrorists' in the neighboring country's Sunni-dominated western Anbar province. (newsmax.com)
  • Sweeping through Iranian sites on the Internet I have yet to see one that tells the story of thousands of young Iranian boys, many barely teenagers and some even younger, who left Iran during the Iran-Iraq war for the less than friendly confines of Europe. (iranian.com)
  • Additional U.S. troops have been flown out of Iraq for closer evaluation of potential concussion injuries from the Iranian missile attack of Jan. 8, U.S. defense officials said Tuesday. (foxnews.com)
  • Talking to an Iranian delegation, com-prising Hojjatoleslam Hamid Shahriari-he, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Pakistan Mohammad Ali Hos-seini, Iranian Culture Counselor Ehsan Khazaei, and Member of Iranian As-sembly of Experts Molavi Nazir Ahmad Salami, the minister said Pakistan has a religious, cultural, historical and inher-ent relationship with Iran. (com.pk)
  • A top special operations officer from Lebanon's Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah has been captured in Iraq, where U.S. officials say he played a key role in a January attack that killed five Americans. (floppingaces.net)
  • Today, state institutions in Iraq and Lebanon have one main job: Instead of protecting and serving the people, they have to protect and serve Iranian interests. (foreignpolicy.com)
  • But it is important not to overemphasize Iranian influence in Iraq. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • Ethnicity, geopolitics, economic competition and even religion present obstacles to Iranian power in Iraq. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • For its part, Baghdad is likely to seek Iranian patronage only as long as Iraq remains fractured and vulnerable. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • It is thus not surprising to hear senior Iranian military officers offering Iraq help in defeating Sunni insurgents. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • Maliki's Dawa Party is hardly an Iranian puppet, but other Iraqi Shiite groups, such as the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) and Muqtada al-Sadr's followers have warm intelligence and security ties to Iran. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • Indeed, ISCI leader and current Iraqi Minister of Transportation Hadi al-Amiri is reported to be a key facilitator of Iranian arms shipments to the Syrian regime through Iraq territory. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • The relationship between the US and Iran has never been good after the Iranian revolution but since the Arab Spring it has gotten worse. (anarkismo.net)
  • The conflict between Iran and US is the failure of US foreign policies that failed on the hand of the Iranian regime in the Middle East region. (anarkismo.net)
  • Al-Sadr, who stands for an Iraq independent of both American and Iranian influence, rejected the notion that Iraq should be dragged into the Trump-Iran confrontation. (juancole.com)
  • Iraq's Sunnis also resent Iranian influence on Baghdad, and would deeply resent it if Iraq suffered for standing with Iran against the US. (juancole.com)
  • WASHINGTON (AP) - The U.S. on Friday imposed sanctions on six people affiliated with the Iranian-backed Iraqi militia Kataeb Hezbollah, which is accused of being behind a spate of recent attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria following the October 7 attacks by Hamas against Israel. (wgntv.com)
  • Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have threatened to attack U.S. facilities there because of American support for Israel. (wgntv.com)
  • The differences within the conservative bloc are not about ultimate goals - both groups are committed to the Iranian nuclear program, to spreading the Islamic revolution, to building Iran as a regional power and to maintaining the current system of government in Iran. (aijac.org.au)
  • Iraq will not allow its territory to be used to attack Iran, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has said during a visit to Tehran. (truthdig.com)
  • Ahmadinejad, at a joint news conference with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, said the trip 'opens a new chapter in bilateral ties with Iraq. (cnn.com)
  • Iraqi people are passing through a critical situation but as we know, the Iraqi people will overcome the situation and the Iraq of tomorrow will be a powerful, developed and unique Iraq,' he said. (cnn.com)
  • The top American commander in Iraq is accusing Iran of engineering the disqualification of 145 Iraqi Sunnis from next month's election, a move that could leave the country's Sunni community feeling unrepresented and angry when the results come in. (voanews.com)
  • Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki is a Shiite who took shelter in Iran during the rule of Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein, when Iraq's Shiite majority population was oppressed. (arabnews.com)
  • Will Iran deploy troops on Iraqi soil? (arabnews.com)
  • CNN also reported that the Iraqi army confirmed an agreement was reached with Russia, Iran and Syria regarding sharing intelligence information against ISIS. (ynetnews.com)
  • Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari denied in New York on Friday that Iraq has received help from Russia advisers. (ynetnews.com)
  • And U.S. defense officials say Iraqi jets also continue to fly into the southern zone of Iraq, where they are also forbidden to fly, to test U.S. ability to patrol the area. (rferl.org)
  • In the midst of all this, Shiite militia groups tied to Iran routinely assassinate civilians and activists, and use rockets and drones to attack U.S. personnel, Iraqi military forces, and U.S.-aligned actors like the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). (brookings.edu)
  • While that may constitute a cosmetic change - the U.S. does not have combat forces in Iraq - it aims to address the pressure that Kadhimi is under to placate Tehran and its Iraqi proxies, which demand the withdrawal of U.S. forces and have recently escalated their attacks on U.S. targets and allies. (brookings.edu)
  • When the Islamic State took over large parts of Iraq in June 2014, Iran was the first to give support to the Iraqi government, while the United States withheld extra assistance for two months until a new government more to Washington's liking was formed. (tcf.org)
  • The United States is engaged in Iraq so long as it has troop presence, and its attention to Iraqi policy has fluctuated wildly over the past decade. (tcf.org)
  • If you're talking about the officials and the foreign policy establishment, I think they're more these days cognizant and aware of the possible dangers and repercussions of civil war and the collapse of what is left of Iraqi governance on Iran. (military-quotes.com)
  • But I think their presence also is a source of instability for the region, and Iran is rather a supporter of the Iraqi government and people and doesn't want to witness their daily pain. (military-quotes.com)
  • They were just one family among the tens of thousands of Iraqi Arabs, mostly Shiites, who fled Iraq to escape Saddam Hussein's brutal crackdown on southern Iraq's rebellions in the wake of the 1991 Gulf War. (unhcr.org)
  • Iran hosts over 200,000 Iraqi refugees, more than half of all registered Iraqi refugees in the world. (unhcr.org)
  • But most Iraqi refugees live in large urban centres, usually in the western parts of Iran. (unhcr.org)
  • But most of the Hashd has never been a proxy of Iran and its soldiers are paid by the Iraqi state. (yahoo.com)
  • That's because Iran and China now have a larger economic stake in Iraqi peace. (marketplace.org)
  • Khazali seemed adamant that the decision to attack U.S. forces and interests in Iraq is made by Iraqi militias "regardless of other calculations"-i.e., regardless of Iran's policy to temporarily reduce tensions with the United States at the time. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • He was successful in preventing Iraqi militias from carrying out serious attacks against the U.S. embassy in Baghdad to show that the Quds Force still has control over its proxies in Iraq. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • Historically, Iran has used Iraqi militias to implement both its short-term plans and long-term strategies. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • At this stage Iran seems to have included its Iraqi proxies in plans to lift U.S. sanctions. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • Iraqi troops have been trying to dislodge fighters from the al-Qaida group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant from two key cities the militants overran last week. (newsmax.com)
  • The drone strike that killed Soleimini at a Baghdad airport, where he was surrounded by Iraqi paramilitaries, deepened a rift that began with Trump withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal. (versobooks.com)
  • Yet in any case, Trump's behaviour has real consequences, and Iran is likely to retaliate by deepening its hold over Iraqi state and paramilitary institutions. (versobooks.com)
  • It can't be known if this decision was originally made by Tehran or if local Iraqi actors made a decision that Iran had to later accept. (versobooks.com)
  • While Iraqi ties to Iran have become infamous in Iraq, as expressed this year through massive protests against paramilitaries and politicians accused of coordinating too closely with Iran, Tehran is now able to argue that the US is the real issue. (versobooks.com)
  • Iran, which has close ties to the Shiite parties that control Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's government, has repeatedly denied the allegations. (floppingaces.net)
  • We are in Iraq at the invitation of the Government of Iraq for the sole purpose of assisting the Iraqi Security Forces in their efforts to defeat ISIS. (dailymail.co.uk)
  • Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran is arguably the most influential foreign force in Iraqi politics. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • For Iran to overtly interfere in Iraqi affairs, as it has done in Syria, would be even more alarming for Saudi Arabia and much of the Sunni Arab world. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • Second, the Iraqi government may hesitate to seek explicit security assistance from Iran to avoid angering the United States. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • Iraqi nationalist and Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr made headlines earlier this week when he tweeted out that a US-Iran War would "finish off Iraq. (juancole.com)
  • There are still about 5,000 US troops in Iraq helping the Iraqi Army mop up the remnants of the ISIL terrorist group that had attempted to erect a cultic "state" in the Sunni Arab regions of Iraq. (juancole.com)
  • Many Iraqi Shiites have warm and close ties with their Shiite siblings in Iran and respect Iran's religious leaders, and Iraqi Shiites are the ones who provide security to US troops. (juancole.com)
  • US warmongers such as National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo engage in a sleight of hand, blaming Iraqi Shiite radicalism on Iran, and so making Tehran responsible for such incidents. (juancole.com)
  • At the same time, Iran is directly in the crosshairs of the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Israel-which puts Iraq in an increasingly untenable situation. (tcf.org)
  • Moreover, Saudi Arabia is deeply suspicious of the Maliki government and its ties to Iran. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • the global prevalence is estimated to be one per million, with higher prevalence rates found in the Middle East, including Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and among both Palestinians and Israelis. (medscape.com)
  • The role of the US in Iraq is high on the agenda, with Tehran concerned about a treaty under discussion on the terms of the US military's future in Iraq. (truthdig.com)
  • TEHRAN: President Hassan Rouhani pledged Wednesday that Iran will do whatever it takes to protect Shiite shrines in Iraq from Sunni militants battling the Baghdad government. (arabnews.com)
  • TEHRAN, Iran (UNHCR) - Roghay and Ashraf are seven. (unhcr.org)
  • Tehran, with its higher standards of living and greater job availability, has attracted the majority of all Iraqis in Iran. (unhcr.org)
  • Iraq has struggled to integrate these groups and their leadership in official and semi-tribal institutions that have working relationships with Tehran. (versobooks.com)
  • A more united and stable Iraq is unlikely to be too dependent on Tehran for support. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • The US allegedly quietly gave Iraq a waiver this spring on its economic relations with Iran, even though the US is orchestrating an economic and financial blockade of Tehran. (juancole.com)
  • In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press," Sunday, Netanyahu gave a frank insight into the politically criminal thinking of the Israeli ruling elite when he urged the United States to pit Sunni insurgents in Syria and Iraq against Iran, rather than working with Tehran to defeat them. (wsws.org)
  • General Odierno told an event organized by the Institute for the Study of War that Iran is still using its Quds Force to fund, train and equip Shi'ite militias in Iraq. (voanews.com)
  • Does Iran finance Shiite militias in Iraq? (arabnews.com)
  • If Iran wants to provide more support for the militias, it provides more support for the militias. (marketplace.org)
  • Abu Fadak al-Mohammedawi, Muhannis's successor, has so far failed to fill the void, creating space for characters such as Khazali to try to take on a leading role among Iran-backed militias. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • In the past several years, Iran has also gained a lot more power in Baghdad through its proxies, including the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the Shiite militias created to fight the Islamic State. (foreignpolicy.com)
  • The United States has launched what it says are defensive airstrikes against Iran-backed militias along the Iraq-Syria border. (dailymail.co.uk)
  • She added: 'The Iran-backed militias utilizing these facilities have been engaged in attacks threatening US service members. (dailymail.co.uk)
  • The targets were selected because these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq. (dailymail.co.uk)
  • There have all along been some radical Shiite militias who vehemently object to the US military presence in Iraq. (juancole.com)
  • Iran and Iraq have close ties and are united by Shiite Islam, but their relationship is more complex. (arabnews.com)
  • Iran is 90 percent Shiite and around 6,000 Iranians visit each day the mausoleum of revered Shiite Imam Hussein in Karbala. (arabnews.com)
  • They have acted on the premise that Iran is interested in ensuring that a friendly Shiite regime would remain in power. (counterpunch.org)
  • The 2003 U.S. overthrow of Saddam Hussein had already led to the empowerment of Shiite parties closely aligned with Iran. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • For now, however, Iraq remains in the throes of sectarian violence between its Sunni minority and Shiite majority. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • Iraq's central government is indeed closely tied to Shiite Iran. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • The wounds of the 1980-1988 war with Iraq remain raw and Rouhani on Saturday said Baghdad's political leaders have the capacity to solve the problem of ISIL. (arabnews.com)
  • It was reportedly used in the Iran-Iraq war in 1980-1988. (cdc.gov)
  • General Odierno then got more specific, accusing Chalabi, who had close ties to the United States before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, of working directly with Iran's Quds Force, and its alleged Iraq commander Mehdi Mohandes. (voanews.com)
  • Will the Iraq crisis have an impact on Iran's regional influence? (arabnews.com)
  • And Iran's state is theocratic, while Iraq has a democratic system-albeit a weak one. (tcf.org)
  • DUBAI: Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday they fired missiles and drones at militant targets in the Kurdish region of neighbouring northern Iraq, where an official said nine people were killed. (dawn.com)
  • Officially, Iran's policy remains flatly opposed to American troops in Iraq and characterizes them as a key contributor to the escalating violence. (military-quotes.com)
  • President Trump has decertified Iran's compliance, even though he acknowledges Iran is fully compliant. (nakedcapitalism.com)
  • But, empire or not, there is little doubt that Iran's influence in Iraq is growing. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei is the ultimate decision-maker in Iran. (aijac.org.au)
  • Both conservative groups identify with his position - associated with the desire for Iran to achieve status as a regional power, determination to pursue Iran's nuclear policy, and a repressive, Islamist outlook with regard to domestic policy. (aijac.org.au)
  • Iran believes its support for Assad has been vindicated both by his election victory and the "terrorist contagion" that has seen ISIL spread in Syria and Iraq. (arabnews.com)
  • What happened now can go on as long as the current regime in Iran exists, it is difficult for the US to achieve its aims in the region, especially in Syria and Iraq. (anarkismo.net)
  • On Monday, the U.N. Security Council votes on a resolution that would impose new sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt uranium enrichment. (cnn.com)
  • Proponents of war or steps toward war (sanctions was a step toward war on Iraq) say we urgently need a war now, but they have no argument for urgency, and their claims are thus far transparent lies. (antiwar.com)
  • The transition period in the United States has put the Middle East on a knife's edge-especially Iran and Iraq, which face a heightened risk of proxy war, along with the unpredictable effects of further sanctions. (tcf.org)
  • In contrast, Iran and Iraq's bilateral relationship is crucial for both countries-it is deeply grounded in history and will continue despite the threat of boycotts, sanctions, and war. (tcf.org)
  • He also says sanctions against Iran for their nuclear ambitions would not help to alleviate the situation. (godlikeproductions.com)
  • The advance of jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and allied groups through northern Iraq toward Baghdad is prompting caution about Maliki, who is seen by diplomats and analysts as having inflamed sectarian tensions by centralising power in his office and largely excluding Sunnis from the political process. (arabnews.com)
  • The premise was that the U.S. and Iran might be able to find a common ground because of the ascent of a reportedly more moderate regime in Teheran and because of tensions between Iran and Iraq, who fought a devastating but inconclusive war between 1980 and 1988. (rferl.org)
  • Tensions between Iran and Iraq, which was defeated by a U.S.-led international coalition after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, are also not enough to change U.S. policy, Rubin says. (rferl.org)
  • However, if the simmering tensions do descend into armed conflict then Iraq would be one of the battlefields where it will be fought out, so the final loyalties of the armed forces, regular and irregular, will be of importance. (yahoo.com)
  • Trump chose not to retaliate, and the tensions with Iran have eased somewhat. (foxnews.com)
  • To ease tensions and lessen its isolation, Iran must somehow either ease Saudi Arabia's concern or seek to set back its power, though this latter goal may be too ambitious and costly for a diplomatically and economically isolated Iran. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) - The rising tensions between the Trump administration and Iran have the potential to roil the entire Middle East, and no country feels the heat more than Iraq, which has warm relations both with the US and Iran, as Egyptian journalist Islam Muhammad argues in a wideranging report. (juancole.com)
  • US-Iran tensions thus have the potential to roil Iraq's internal politics and to lead to a third post-Saddam civil war. (juancole.com)
  • A spate of drone attacks hit U.S. bases in Iraq as recently as Friday, as regional tensions have flared up following the bloody war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. (wgntv.com)
  • Even as US officials face new challenges posed by a quickly changing political landscape in the Middle East, Iraq claimed Saturday to have entered into intelligence and security cooperation with Russia, Iran and Syria, according to an Al Jazeera report. (ynetnews.com)
  • Kurdish Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari tried to get the U.S. officials to understand that the Iranians seized in Erbil were not part of a "clandestine network" but were working on visas and other paperwork for travel by Iraqis to Iran. (counterpunch.org)
  • After Sadr declared a unilateral ceasefire in late August 2007, the Maliki regime, including Kurdish foreign minister Hoshyar Zebari, argued publicly and privately to Bush administration officials that Iran had used its influence on Sadr to get him to agree to such a ceasefire. (counterpunch.org)
  • For as long as U.S. forces have been in Iraq, U.S. officials have worried about interference from neighboring Iran. (wshu.org)
  • Two U.S. defense officials confirmed three additional attacks on U.S. military facilities in Iraq and Syria on Friday, bringing the total number of attacks on U.S. and coalition military facilities in Iraq and Syria to at least 60. (wgntv.com)
  • While he's dependent on U.S. forces to protect his regime, his friends in Iran are concerned about the presence of so many American troops on their doorstep. (truthdig.com)
  • General Ray Odierno also told an audience during a visit to Washington Tuesday if there is significant instability in Iraq after the election, he might have to recommend slowing down the planned withdrawal of tens of thousands of U.S. troops. (voanews.com)
  • Obama's decision to send troops to Iraq and whether political engagement with Iran could help stop the chaos. (msnbc.com)
  • He ruled out sending troops to Iraq. (newsmax.com)
  • Sen. Rand Paul says if Iraq wants U.S. troops out, we should call their bluff and leave. (foxnews.com)
  • Polls on the Iraq war - showing both that Americans increasingly view efforts as going well and are now evenly split on keeping troops in the country , and Iraqis are much more optimistic about the future . (aijac.org.au)
  • Although Iraq won the war militarily, and possessed a significant military advantage over Iran in 1989, the 1991 Persian Gulf War reduced Iraq's capabilities to a point where a rough parity existed between Iran and Iraq-conditions similar to those found in 1980. (globalsecurity.org)
  • Iraq's predicament is simple to state and difficult to address: the country's well-being depends, to a large degree, on its deeply intertwined relationship with Iran, its neighbor to the east, its most important trade partner, and the most dominant foreign player in Iraq's security. (tcf.org)
  • Iraq's stability and good ties with Iran have no direct effect on the American economy or national security. (tcf.org)
  • Recent history has shown that Iran, partly by virtue of being Iraq's neighbor, is a more consistent partner to Iraq than the United States, which despite being a superpower in a region that yearns for leadership, has struggled to define its relationship with Iraq. (tcf.org)
  • Under a new administration, the United States should seek to develop a policy for Iraq that is not conditional on either country's relationship with Iran, but instead pursues shared goals, leveraging Iraq's need for assistance and the United States' wish to see a stable, well-governed democracy in Iraq. (tcf.org)
  • Iraq's Arab allies are trying to isolate Iran. (csmonitor.com)
  • We stand with Iraq's leaders in the Kurdistan region and Baghdad in condemning these attacks as an assault on the sovereignty of Iraq and its people. (whitehouse.gov)
  • Gen. Qassem Soleimani, and they acknowledged that he had ties with all the Shi'a factions in Iraq. (counterpunch.org)
  • Aside from the long-standing political ties that connect Iran and Iraq, the two countries' economic relationship is so significant that it impacts daily life. (tcf.org)
  • Iran tends to partner with ambitious men that have long-standing ties with its military and intelligence apparatus, and was Soleimini who mapped out many of these connections. (versobooks.com)
  • There are two possible reasons why both Iran and Iraq prefer to keep these ties informal. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • Panelists will examine transnational ties between the Middle East, East Africa, Europe and the U.K. We also interrogate the role of faith-based Shi'i non-state providers (NSPs) and sub- and supranational aid-economy actors in the context of postwar reconstruction and urban revitalization, and examine hybrid regimes of rule in the Islamic Republic of Iran, where authoritarianism and electoral democracy are mutually reinforcing. (lu.se)
  • As a result of the secret 1916 Anglo-French Sykes-Picot Agreement Britain gained control of the Ottoman Vilayets of Mosul, Baghdad and Basra, which it organised into the mandate of Iraq in 1920. (wikipedia.org)
  • According to the report, Russian news agency Interfax quoted a military diplomatic source in Moscow as saying that the Baghdad coordination centre would be led on a rotating basis by officers of the four countries, starting with Iraq. (ynetnews.com)
  • For Iraq, the transition is particularly fraught, reflecting dangers that will continue to trouble Baghdad even after Joe Biden takes office. (tcf.org)
  • Baghdad Bob is in Iran now? (freerepublic.com)
  • At a meeting in Baghdad, foreign ministers from Arab League countries decided Wednesday to ask major industrial nations to stop dealing with Iran, its opponent in the 31/2-year Gulf war. (csmonitor.com)
  • But Khadim, currently in Baghdad, says that it is too crude to analyse all political developments in Iraq as being tied to the Iran-US confrontation. (yahoo.com)
  • The strike was launched in retaliation for a U.S. drone missile strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, the most powerful military general in Iran, on Jan. 3 at Baghdad International Airport. (foxnews.com)
  • A recognition of this fact was evident in Barack Obama's efforts to disentangle from Iraq, and continued to be manifest under Trump. (tcf.org)
  • Wilkerson argues that Trump is "making a play thing" of Iran for domestic political benefit. (nakedcapitalism.com)
  • Your assessment of where the Iran deal is at in the wake of Trump decertifying it to Congress? (nakedcapitalism.com)
  • He said that what Trump has done is possibly making the Iran agreement a play thing of American domestic politics. (nakedcapitalism.com)
  • Donald Trump s war polices with Iran, North Korea and Russia over disputed countries or interests are not on the table. (anarkismo.net)
  • In less than a month, demonstrations against corruption and a lack of economic reform erupted in both Iraq and Lebanon. (foreignpolicy.com)
  • Iran had been very patient and resilient in implementing its policy, accepting small defeats with eyes on the main goal: hegemony over Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen. (foreignpolicy.com)
  • Iraq and Lebanon are good examples. (foreignpolicy.com)
  • Instead, the US should "take the actions that you deem necessary to counter the ISIS takeover of Iraq," but must not "allow Iran to dominate Iraq the way it dominated Lebanon and Syria. (wsws.org)
  • The involvement of Iran in many countries in the Middle East, especially Iraq and Syria, made it difficult for the US to achieve its own aims in the region. (anarkismo.net)
  • Iraq faces a potential moment of reckoning that could mirror the events that unfolded just seven years ago when ISIS seized a third of the country . (brookings.edu)
  • In addition to the turmoil over Saadi's dismissal as head of the CTS, there is an ongoing struggle over control of the Hashd al-Shaabi, the paramilitary coalition of largely Shia forces that were raised to fight Isis at the height of their success in Iraq and Syria in 2014. (yahoo.com)
  • Amid speculation of a possible alliance between Iran and the US against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and with some voices urging an accommodation with Assad, Netanyahu was asked whether US air strikes against ISIS in Iraq would strengthen Iran. (wsws.org)
  • He replied that both the radical Shi'ites allied to Iran, and radical Sunnis, led by Al Qaeda and ISIS, were enemies of the US. (wsws.org)
  • Last week, 11 U.S. service members were flown from Iraq to U.S. medical facilities in Germany and Kuwait for further evaluation of concussion-like symptoms. (foxnews.com)
  • Iran has also reached out to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Oman. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • Most Iraqis are grateful to the US (and to Iran) for helping save them from ISIL, which took 40% of Iraq in 2014 and was only decisively defeated as a state last year. (juancole.com)
  • American support for Saddam's forces during the war, as Iraq unleashed thousands of chemical bombs against Iranians, also helped fuel wariness between Iran and the U.S. that persists today. (newsweek.com)
  • No matter how much Iraq wants to cultivate the goodwill of the United States (and many of its leaders and factions do), it cannot wish away its interdependence with Iran. (tcf.org)
  • There is uncertainty over why exactly Saadi was removed: one interpretation for the side-lining is that he was considered to be too close to the Americans by pro-Iran factions, but a more convincing motive may have been his aggressive campaign against corruption in the CTS which had reportedly alienated other senior officers. (yahoo.com)
  • Some groups such as the Kataib Hezbollah openly look to Iran as the leader of resistance to the US, Israel and the Gulf states and says it will attack US bases in Iraq if there is a US-Iran war. (yahoo.com)
  • And it remains unclear why Hezbollah's leadership would risk sending advisers to Iraq: American intelligence officers suspect Hezbollah - which is indebted to Iran for decades of military and financial support - had no choice. (floppingaces.net)
  • Kirby added that multiple Iran-backed milita groups including Kata'ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS) had been targeted. (dailymail.co.uk)
  • Kirby's statement continued: 'Several Iran-backed militia groups, including Kata'ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), used these facilities. (dailymail.co.uk)
  • All fled Iraq to escape persecution under Saddam's regime. (unhcr.org)
  • As an opponent of Saddam's regime, he refuse to join the army in its war against Iran, and chose to take refuge in Iran instead. (unhcr.org)
  • Kirby said: 'At President Biden's direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region. (dailymail.co.uk)
  • The new development also shows just how much Iran has increased its leverage in Iraq just four years after the US withdrawal. (ynetnews.com)
  • Going forward, the Islamic Republic may use escalation against the United States in Iraq to exercise leverage in its dealings with Washington on the JCPOA. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • Instead of rushing to the negotiation table and being forced to offer concessions, the Islamic Republic could use its proxies in Iraq and elsewhere in the region to escalate against U.S. interests and those of its allies to gain leverage in the talks. (washingtoninstitute.org)
  • Khamenei said there is plenty of evidence that 'the occupiers' are promoting terrorism committed in Iraq in the name of Shi'ite and Sunni Islam. (rferl.org)
  • Members of the Baluch minority, many of whom are Sunni Muslims in Shi'a-majority Iran, have long faced disproportionate discrimination and violence at the hands of the authorities. (rferl.org)
  • In particular, Sunni insurgents accuse Maliki of being a pawn for "Safavid" ambitions in Iraq. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • Ahmadinejad said a unified and powerful Iraq is in the best interest of Iran and all its neighbors. (cnn.com)
  • They knew that Iran had trained officers of Shi'a nationalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and provided some financial support to Sadr. (counterpunch.org)
  • During the Ottoman-Hotaki War (1722-1727) the Ottomans invaded Iran in league with Russia, gaining large parts of north-west Iran via the Treaty of Hamedan. (wikipedia.org)
  • The Ottomans and Iran agreed to work on a more precise demarcation in 1911 at the urging of Russia and the Britain, both of whom had colonial aspirations in the region. (wikipedia.org)
  • That law is still the focus of a dispute between the U.S. and the European Union because of the French oil firm Total's partnership with Russia and Malaysia in a $2 billion deal with Iran to develop a Persian Gulf natural gas field. (rferl.org)
  • Iran sent military advisers to Syria in support of President Bashar Assad against rebels and could do the same in Iraq. (arabnews.com)
  • The people of Iran and Iraq have close bonds, and there are many holy shrines in Iraq,' he said. (cnn.com)
  • It was single deadliest day of the monthslong antiestablishment protests that rocked Iran last year. (rferl.org)
  • The economy of Iran is in shambles, protests are increasing, and the world has seen they are not trustworthy. (floppingaces.net)
  • Kurdish people fighting for Independence in Turkey, Iran, Syria & Iraq. (dawn.com)
  • We do have means to communicate with Iran diplomatically if there is a requirement to do so. (rferl.org)
  • The unprovoked US aggression on Iraq in 2003 and the subsequent US occupation displaced 4 million people of the then 26 million from their homes, left hundreds of thousands dead, over a million wounded, with millions of widows and orphans, and ultimately led to the rise of ISIL, which ruled major cities such as Mosul in a bizarre and cultic way, raping, enslaving, arbitrarily killing and expropriating property. (juancole.com)
  • Although Iraq invaded Iran in September 1980 after a territorial dispute, and the two countries fought an eight-year war, Ahmadinejad said the nations share a common history. (cnn.com)
  • The United States and Iran also conferred on security matters relating to the Taleban in Afghanistan, following the September 11, 2011 attacks on the US. (arabnews.com)
  • Israel is staging the biggest terrorist attacks in Iraq. (freerepublic.com)
  • Iran Behind Attacks In Iraq? (floppingaces.net)
  • Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting U.S. interests in Iraq, the President directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks. (dailymail.co.uk)
  • Iran cannot deflect blame from its internal problems and the legitimate grievances of its population with attacks across its borders. (whitehouse.gov)
  • On Tuesday night, Tehran's English-language news channel featured commentary from political scientist Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh, who called for the U.S. to remain in Iraq until it has established a strong, stable central government capable of providing adequate security. (military-quotes.com)
  • They know as well as anyone that Shiites like them are targeted for extermination by the Wahhabis and Salafis (who are in fact murdering Shiites in Pakistan and Iraq every single day), and that Israel has nothing to do with it. (freerepublic.com)
  • The United States and other nations have accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons, which Iran denies. (cnn.com)
  • Even a National Intelligence Estimate in 2007 pushed back and admitted that Iran had no nuclear weapons program. (antiwar.com)
  • Even the claims of supporters of the nuclear agreement reinforced the lie that Iran had a nuclear weapons program in need of containment. (antiwar.com)
  • There is no evidence that Iran has ever had a nuclear weapons program. (antiwar.com)
  • The worst outcome would be that Iran "would come out with nuclear weapons capability," he added. (wsws.org)
  • Iran created proxies in both countries, gave them power through funding and arms, and helped them infiltrate state institutions. (foreignpolicy.com)
  • Kirby said the targets had been chosen because they had previously launched drone strikes against US personnel and bases in Iraq using rudimentary unmanned aerial vehicles. (dailymail.co.uk)
  • On Sunday 29th December, the US retaliated with airstrikes against five KH bases, three of them in Iraq and the rest in Syria. (anarkismo.net)
  • The Iran-Iraq border runs for 1,599 km (994 mi) from the tripoint with Turkey in the north down to the Shatt al-Arab (known as Arvand Rud in Iran) waterway and out to the Persian Gulf in the south. (wikipedia.org)
  • The former Ottoman-Iran boundary was retained, now forming the borders between Iran and Iraq, and also Iran and the new Republic of Turkey established in 1923. (wikipedia.org)
  • Specifically, the U.S. strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries. (dailymail.co.uk)
  • Almost five years and billions of dollars later, in many places in Iraq electricity is still available only a couple of hours a day. (marketplace.org)
  • Iraq is deeply dependent on trade with Iran and some of its provinces get their electricity from Iran. (juancole.com)
  • These diplomats also say Iran is in no way short of volunteers to go to the front. (csmonitor.com)
  • In 1969 Iran abrogated the 1937 treaty, resulting in the 1974-75 Shatt al-Arab clashes with Iraq on the Shatt al-Arab. (wikipedia.org)
  • There are also, of course, notable differences between the two countries: Iraq has a largely Arab identity whereas Iran is largely Persian. (tcf.org)
  • The US military in Iraq certainly thought so. (arabnews.com)
  • There is mistrust of official military involvement in Iraq because Iran does not want to fall into the trap of an intervention that would be perceived as a war against Sunnis. (arabnews.com)
  • But Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, strongly resisted that conclusion, insisting that it was U.S. military operations against Sadr's Mahdi Army that had brought about the ceasefire. (counterpunch.org)
  • In contrast, Iran has no declared military presence, and has been far more consistent in its foreign policy. (tcf.org)
  • More than two years after the December 2011 withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq, the United States is no longer the key foreign player in that country. (worldpoliticsreview.com)
  • The latest offensive against Syria comes after almost two weeks of an Israeli military operation in the occupied West Bank targeting Hamas-a key ally of Iran. (wsws.org)
  • It ended when Iran accepted United Nations (UN) Security Council Resolution 598, leading to a 20 August 1988 cease-fire. (globalsecurity.org)
  • At least 104 people were killed when security forces gunned down protesters in the provincial capital, Zahedan, on September 30 last year, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights organization. (rferl.org)
  • Ahead of his trip, Ahmadinejad said it would 'contribute to regional peace and security' and stressed that the people of Iran and Iraq share close bonds. (cnn.com)
  • But he said Iraq will still need support for external security. (voanews.com)
  • Finally, Rubin summed up the U.S. gulf policy: 'We continue to contain Iraq, and we continue to contain Iran, because it's in our national security interest to do so. (rferl.org)
  • The two leaders announced that the U.S. will fully transition to a training, advising, assisting, and intelligence-sharing role in its security relationship with Iraq, and that by December U.S. combat forces will no longer be deployed. (brookings.edu)
  • Ashraf's mother knows that the security situation in Iraq remains precarious. (unhcr.org)
  • The U.S. broke diplomatic relations with Iran in April 1980, about six months after Islamic militants in Teheran seized the U.S. embassy and took more than 50 Americans hostage. (rferl.org)
  • Both al-Maliki and Talabani have made official trips to Iran since taking office. (cnn.com)
  • Maliki returned to Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion and became prime minister in 2006 and Iran helped negotiate his second term as premier in a governing coalition after a 2010 election that he had lost. (arabnews.com)
  • How far is Iran willing to go to help Maliki? (arabnews.com)
  • Maliki is a politician of experience, but Iran can find other acceptable candidates, such as (deputy premier) Hussein Al-Shahristani and Ammar Al-Hakim," who heads the Citizens bloc seen close to Iran. (arabnews.com)
  • Iran can't just wave it's wand and make Maliki disappear. (arabnews.com)
  • Iran needs Maliki, and Maliki needs Iran. (arabnews.com)
  • The question of American casualties was especially significant at the time because the missile attack's results were seen as influencing a U.S. decision on whether to retaliate and risk a broader war with Iran. (foxnews.com)
  • The issue rumbled on in the following decades, with Iraq adopting a more assertive foreign policy in the 1970s following the rise of Saddam Hussein. (wikipedia.org)
  • LONDON - Iran has consistently opposed the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq, but new prospects of a stepped-up American withdrawal are prompting growing unease in the Islamic Republic, where many fear the repercussions of a dangerously unstable neighbor. (military-quotes.com)
  • The chief of Hashd al-Shaabi, (Popular Mobilization Forces) soon after that announced, The blood of the martyrs will not be in vain and our response will be very tough on the American forces in Iraq. (anarkismo.net)
  • His effective demotion has provoked a wave of popular support for arguably Iraq 's most esteemed general, on the streets as well as on social media. (yahoo.com)
  • His removal is all the more significant because it takes place at a time when there is an intense struggle for influence in Iraq between the US and Iran . (yahoo.com)