One day after the Iranian guide, Ali Khamenei, announced that his country does not have agents in the region, the Iraqi Foreign Minister announced that Baghdad is not part of what is known as the “axis of resistance”.
The statements of Minister Fouad Hussein came in conjunction with similar positions from the leaders of Iraqi parties calling for not to engage in the ongoing escalation in the region.
The tension in relations between the United States and Iran increased after the renewed Israeli bombing of Lebanon and Gaza, and the return of the Houthis supported by Tehran to the threat of navigation in the Red Sea.
“We are not resistance”
The Iraqi minister said, in a televised interview: “Iraq is not part of (the axis of resistance), and it does not accept the unity of the squares, we believe in the Iraqi square only (…) I have said these words on previous occasions.”
Hussein explained that “the Iraqi constitution prohibits any armed formation outside the framework of the official military establishment, and it is not allowed to fight a war against anyone by an individual decision.”
The minister said: “What was done by Iraqi armed factions for months that harmed Iraq a lot, and did not help the Palestinian cause.”
Hussein stressed that “thinking about Iraqi interests was not prevalent before the recent developments that occurred, especially after the clear threats by the American administration of the countries of the region, including Iraq.”
According to the Iraqi minister, “there is an opportunity to understand with the armed factions to spare them and Iraq is risks that could result in a military strike from external parties, such as America or Israel.”
Reliable sources had revealed to Al -Sharq Al -Awsat newspaper the content of an Iranian message to the leaders of Shiite factions in Iraq, which included strict instructions that the Americans and the Israelis are not provoked.
Regarding American policy with Baghdad, Hussein stressed that his country “faces a different strategy, which started to stop importing energy from Iran,” and said: “They (the Americans) told me that there is no extension in an official meeting in the French capital Paris.”
The minister suggested that the Iraqis face a suffocating crisis due to the lack of electricity during the next summer, calling on “the ministries of electricity and oil in the Iraqi government to cooperate to overcome the distress next summer.”
Hussein warned that “Iran would be a target of an Israeli attack if it failed to reach an agreement with the new American administration.” He said: “This means that the catastrophe will be resolved in Iraq and the region.”
“Wise Parties”
In the context, the former deputy in the Iraqi parliament, Arras Habib, called on the Iraqi forces to “not interfere in the Palestinian affairs and pay attention to the priorities of the Iraqi street,” as he put it.
Habib, the head of the “Iraqi National Congress”, which was led by the late politician Ahmed Chalabi, said, “It is time for the Iraqis to turn to their internal conditions, and to abandon the thinking of the Palestinian cause.
Habib stressed that some forces in the “coordination framework” wanted to engage in the field in the ongoing escalation in the Middle East, but “wise parties prevented them from this”, calling on the ruling coalition to beware of current developments.
Two American diplomats had assured, to Asharq Al -Awsat, that “comprehensive batches” will be imposed on entities and individuals in government and political agencies and Iraqi factions.
Informed speculation in Baghdad has prevailed on new American policy, since President Donald Trump’s arrival at the White House, and Iran vowed to a strong campaign against its influence in the region.
