Iraq joins Iran in Opposing US on Syria

By Liz Sly, Sunday, September 8, 1:16 PM

BEIRUT — Iran won Iraqi support for its efforts to oppose a U.S.-led military strike on Syria during a visit to Baghdad on Sunday by the new Iranian foreign minister, highlighting how close the two countries have grown since U.S. forces withdrew in 2011.

Speaking during his first visit abroad since he was appointed last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javed Zarif warned that U.S. intervention in Syria risks igniting a region-wide war.

“Those who are short-sighted and are beating the drums of war are starting a fire that will burn everyone,” Zarif said during a news conference.

Standing alongside him, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said all of Syria’s neighbors, including Iraq, would be harmed by American involvement in Syria’s two-year-old conflict.

“What I can say conclusively is that Iraq will not be a base for any attack, nor will it facilitate any such attack on Syria,” Zebari told reporters after holding talks with Zarif.

Zebari, a Kurd, was a staunch supporter of the U.S. invasion of Iraq a decade ago and has warm relations with the United States, but Iraq has been pulled closer into Iran’s orbit since the U.S. troop withdrawal, and the Syrian revolt threatens to revive the sectarian conflicts left unresolved with the troops’ departure. That Zarif chose Baghdad for his first trip abroad underscores the importance of the relationship.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/iraq-joins-iran-in-opposing-us-led-military-strike-in-syria/2013/09/08/9187c1f6-18b8-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story.html

 

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