Iraq Parliament To Discuss Iranian, Turkish Threats To Territory
A building damaged by an Iranian missile attack in Erbil, Iraq. March 13, 2022
The Iraqi parliament was set to hold a meeting Sunday to discuss the recent attacks by the Iranian and Turkish militaries in the country.
The media office of the parliament's first deputy speaker, Hakem al-Zameli, said in a statement on Saturday that the deliberative meeting will also include Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and the senior undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry, Nizar al-Khairallah.
The session was planned upon an official correspondence submitted by the head of the Sadrist bloc, and more than 50 lawmakers also signed it.
Last Monday, Turkey carried out air and land operations -- dubbed Operation Claw Lock – against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq that targeted camps and ammunition stores.
The military action was part of a long-running Turkish campaign in Iraq and Syria against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, both regarded as terrorist groups by Ankara.
The PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which in the past was mainly focused on southeast Turkey.
Iran also has armed Kurdish opposition in Iraq, although they are distinct from the PKK, which mainly operates in Turkey and Iraq.
On March 13, Iran itself attacked sites in the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan Erbil with a dozen ballistic missiles, with reports saying the unprecedented assault was meant to derail a plan to pump Kurdish gas to Turkey and Europe.
Iran says the attack targeted Israeli intelligence sites operating in the autonomous Kurdish region.
A religious conservative politician, Ali Motahari, has called on Iranian footballers playing abroad to advertise Islam through showing off their fasting during the month of Ramadan.
The former lawmaker said in a tweet on Saturday that Porto’s striker Mehdi Taremi breaking his fast in the middle of a sensitive match is a good advertisement for Islam.
He added that other Iranian players in Europe should be like this.
Motahari, whose father was a famous cleric, has been critical of political suppression in Iran in recent years, but he remains a religious conservative.
Motahari also referred to similar symbolic gestures such as a sajdah -- the act of kneeling and bowing to touches the ground with the forehead – by Egyptian footballer Mohamed Salah after scoring goals, and Real Madrid’s French player Karim Benzema breaking his fast only minutes before an important match against Chelsea.
His comment came as the Islamic Republic is trying to encourage people to observe Islamic traditions. Fewer people have been observing the Muslim fasting period in recent years but police arrest and fine anyone who breaks the rules in public.
As the fasting month of Ramadan started, Iran’s prosecutor-general called on the police to confront those eating and drinkingin their cars during daylight.
Every year police enforce a national plan to deal with those who break Ramadan rules in public, and transgressors are sometimes sentenced to months of detention and lashes.
A Revolutionary Guard commander fears that some in Iran might surrender to the idea of limiting IRGC's power in a bid to make a nuclear deal with Washington.
Speaking before the Friday prayers in Tehran on April 22, Gen. Hassan Hassanzadeh called those elements "lowly people and those who have sold their soul to the enemy."
Hassanzadeh is a key figure although he is not often mentioned in the media. He is the commander of IRGC forces in the capital Tehran, a fearsome unit that has been often used to suppress popular protests and is tasked with defending the Islamic Republic's centers of power.
Nuclear talks with Iran have come to a standstill since March after Tehran demanded that Washington remove the IRGC from its Foreign Terrorist Organization list.
The Biden administration has said that if Iran wants sanctions relief beyond those imposed for its nuclear activities it should be ready to negotiate over regional issues, effectively meaning limiting its interventions in other countries.
Iran's Foreign Minister had said in March that IRGC commanders are prepared to sacrifice their interest for the greater interests of the Islamic Republic and forego the call for delisting the IRGC to facilitate an agreement between Tehran and Washington.
Hassanzadeh said: "I wish to tell all the enemies and mean elements who have sold their soul to the enemies that the IRGC will never and by no means be limited."
The Commander of the IRGC's naval force Alireza Tangsiri on Thursday announced that Iran will not give up its intention of seeking revenge for the killing of former Qods Force Commander Qasem Soleimani, insisting that the IRGC would never forget the idea of seeking revenge.
These comments by IRGC commanders come at a time when many in Iran, including politicians are disappointed with the dim prospects of an agreement that could lift economic sanctions.
Former Iranian diplomat Ghassem Mohebali told Nameh News website that the Iranian government is still not inclined to offer explanations about the contents of any draft agreement with the US side.
"This is partly because of the weakness of Iran's negotiating team and its members' lack of familiarity with the way diplomacy works," he said, adding that "putting forward matters that were not part of the 2015 deal (JCPOA) could also be another hindrance." These matters include the role of the IRGC in the region as well as Iran's ballistic missile program.
He warned that the deadlock could lead to taking Iran’s nuclear breaches to the UN Security Council, where the other side has the right to veto any decision.
Meanwhile, Hossein Shariatmadari, the editor of hardline daily Kayhan, who is close to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's office said in an interview with Iran's state-owned radio that "the negotiations are not likely to lead anywhere” because the US is creating other issues outside of the nuclear question.
Shariatmadari added that some countries including South Korea are undermining Iran's right and refusing to pay their debts to Tehran fearing that they might be affected by US secondary sanctions. He added that the Americans have linked some of their sanctions to the JCPOA while they have withdrawn from the agreement and are no longer part of the JCPOA.
Shariatmadari further added that the JCPOA was a golden document for the US side while it did not have any benefit for Iran.
Iranian analyst Mehdi Ayati also told Nameh News that he is not optimistic about a possible agreement with Washington, because he believes that the JCPOA ended when former US President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement in May 2018.
Iranian rowing Asian gold medalist Bahman Nasiri has left the national team as he emigrated to the Republic of Azerbaijan.
The head of Iran’s canoeing and rowing federation, Alireza Sohrabian, said on Saturday that Nasiri wanted to be employed by the federation, but it didn’t happen, making him leave the team.
He had left Iran before but returned to the country following promises by authorities.
Nasiri had pocketed a gold medal for the Islamic Republic in men’s single scull and a bronze in quad sculls category at the 2019 Asian Rowing Cup.
It is not yet clear whether he will be representing Azerbaijan in international competitions.
About 30 Iranian athletes in recent years have defected from Iranian national teams and sought asylum in other countries, including Judo champion Saeid Mollaei, Greco-Roman national team wrestler Ali Arsalan, and many others, due to a lack of attention, threats and corruption in their federations as well as Iran’s policy of not allowing athlete to compete against Israel. For women mandatory hijab is also an issue.
Also on Saturday, judoka Mohammad Rashnonezhad, another Iranian judo champion who left the country, played against an Israeli opponent as a member of the refugees’ team of International Judo Federation, something he couldn’t do as an Iranian athlete.
Last week, karate champion Sajjad Ganjzadeh criticized the Islamic Republic for not allowing athletes to play matches against Israeli competitors, saying, "We cannot tolerate this anymore. Not competing is more difficult than competing”.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on the Iran to release US Iranian dual national Emad Sharghi and stop its policy of holding people as political pawns.
In a tweet on Saturday, Blinken said, “For four years, the Shargi (Sharghi) family has waited anxiously for the Iranian government to release Emad”.
Calling on Iran to stop this “inhumane practice” and release Emad, he added that “Like too many other families, their loved one has been treated as a political pawn”.
Earlier in the day, Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley also called for his release, saying, “Shargi was arrested 4 years ago today. He was cleared of all charges, but then convicted in absentia, rearrested, and has now spent over 500 days in Evin Prison”.
“Emad, the Namazis, and Morad Tahbaz must all be allowed to come home now”, Malley added.
The 56-year-old businessman was arrested on December 6, 2020. According to reports, he has been sentenced to ten years in prison on charges of espionage and collecting military intelligence but had attempted to flee while on bail awaiting the result of an appeal.
Foreign governments and human rights organizations have accused Iran of detaining foreigners and dual nationals on trumped up charges to use them for getting concessions from Western countries.
Tehran says the Taliban's "uncoordinated" road construction at the Dogharoon-Islam Qala border area caused border tensions on Saturday.
Hasan Kazemi-Qomi, President Ebrahim Raisi's special envoy for Afghanistan, told the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) linked Fars news agency that the Taliban border guards had violated Iran’s territory and the Iranian side had stopped their activities and this gave rise to tension in the border area.
Kazemi Qomi said Tehran had contacted the Taliban interior and defense ministries and stressed that all construction had to be stopped and the dispute needed be resolved by a joint commission.
Iran state television quoted the commander of Iran's border guard regiment in the area, Colonel Mohammad Cheragh, as saying that the matter would be settled by "experts" from both sides and that the situation was calm in the border areas.
Unconfirmed reports by Afghan sources said earlier on Saturday that five Iranian border guards had been detained after they tried to stop the Taliban from laying asphalt on a road in the border area.
The road to Iran-Afghanistan Dogharoon crossing point
Ajmal Omar Shinwari, a former spokesman of Afghan Armed Forces, on Saturday told Iran International TV's Afghan channel that the Taliban do not have control over all their forces some of whom have no proper military training and that the actions of some groups from among the Taliban could cause the country's neighbors to feel danger.
The Islamic Republic first welcomed the Taliban victory in August 2021, presenting it as a defeat for the United States, but terror attacks against Shiite Afghans later led to protests in Iran and warnings from Tehran that the Taliban must protect minorities. Iran has also been demanding an inclusive government in Afghanistan, while the Taliban have kept their tight control.
In early April tensions rose between Iran and the Taliban over Afghan protesters' attack on the Iranian consulate in Herat which led to a halt in Iran's consular services in the country. Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) linked Tasnim news agency alleged that "western-backed" political groups were behind the attack on the Iranian consulate.
Iranian officials have condemned Friday's blast at the Mawlavi Sekandar Sunni Mosque in the northern Afghan city of Kunduz, as well as Thursday's attack at a Shia Mosque in Mazar-e Sharif, also in northern Afghanistan, for which Daesh claimed responsibility. No one has taken responsibility for the attack on the Sunni Mosque yet.
President Ebrahim Raisi said Saturday that the "current rulers of Afghanistan (Taliban)" have a responsibility to protect the lives of Muslims and take action against "rogue elements who viciously target ordinary people and public security" in Afghanistan. In the same speech, he called Daesh "the offspring of Western spy services and the Israeli regime."
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh on Friday expressed deep concern over the recent terrorist attacks in Afghanistan. The attack on the Sunni Mosque in Kunduz following one on a Shiite Mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif, clearly shows the "evil goals of the terrorists serving as mercenaries for foreigners", he said, adding that they seek to "create a civil war in Afghanistan.”
