Iran says U.S. has plan to divide Iraq, pleads with Iraqis to resist

[GennGreymane]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/...oPylcdKqKw4.97

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday accused the United States of trying to divide Iraq along sectarian and ethnic lines and urged Iraqis to withstand any such plans.

Shi'ite Muslim power Iran wields great influence in Iraq, which has a majority Shi'ite population. Its military advisers are helping direct Baghdad's campaign against Sunni Islamist militant group Islamic State, which seized around a third of Iraq's territory last year.

It was not clear if Khamenei was referring to a specific incident, but Iran has protested about U.S. policy in Iraq several times this year.

"The Americans must not be allowed to consider Iraq as their personal property ... and dare to openly talk about disintegration of Iraq," Khamenei said according to his website.

"The Iraqi people, Shi'ites, Sunnis, Kurds and Arabs have been living together peacefully but some regional countries and some foreigners are trying to amplify differences among them," he added.

On Tuesday Khamenei met Iraq's President Fouad Massoum on the sidelines of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) Summit in Tehran.

In August, outgoing U.S. Army chief of staff General Ray Odierno drew condemnation from Baghdad and Tehran when he said reconciliation between Shi'ites and Sunnis in Iraq was becoming harder and that partitioning the country "might be the only solution."

In the instability resulting from the rise of Islamic State, Iraq's Kurds have expanded the reach of their autonomous regional government to include Kirkuk, which sits on substantial oil deposits.

The United States, whose 2003 invasion of Iraq marked the beginning of the country's descent into violence, is supporting Kurdish peshmerga fighting Islamic State and leads a coalition carrying out air strikes against the group. There are currently around 3,360 troops stationed in the country.

Iran's backing of Shi'ite militias fighting Islamic State has also added to sectarian divisions.

During a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Khamenei called for closer bilateral ties between Tehran and Moscow to thwart what he called "Washington's plots".

[Independent voter]

I wonder why the US is against it? Seems like the thing to do to me. Iraqi borders were drawn by the colonial powers to weaken the groups within it's borders by separating them from similar people and causing strife between the groups.

[Gamevizier]

I wonder why the US is against it? Seems like the thing to do to me. Iraqi borders were drawn by the colonial powers to weaken the groups within it's borders by separating them from similar people and causing strife between the groups.

problem is that the kurds will likely end up snatching alot of oil if Iraq gets divided. they already control Kirkuk, and diving the country is the best way for the kurds to keep all that oil for themselves.

[Deleted]

iraq should be divided it was just kind of slapped up to begin with and has no regard to the people within

[breadisfunny]

good. iraq is a relic of world war 1 and the treaty of versailles almost 100 years ago that needs to die. it never should have been formed in the first place. the treaty itself is a symbol of human failure since it gave the nazi's a platform to run on and only served to cause the deaths of 10's of millions more people. both britian and france should be embarrassed of it's existence.

[Sunseeker]

We probably have plans for how to divide up every country.

[Merkava]

I wonder why the US is against it? Seems like the thing to do to me. Iraqi borders were drawn by the colonial powers to weaken the groups within it's borders by separating them from similar people and causing strife between the groups.

For the same reasons we were against it previously.