Iraq offers to play peacemaker between Iran and US

Iraq offers to play peacemaker between Iran and US
During a visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, his Iraqi counterpart Mohammed al-Hakim offered to act as a peacemaker between the United States and Iran.
4 min read
Iraqi Foreign Minister Al-Hakim and his Iranian counterpart Zarif at a joint press conference [Anadolu/Getty]

Iraq has offered to mediate in the crisis between its two key allies, the US and Iran, amid escalating Middle East tensions.

Iraqi Foreign Minister, Mohammed al-Hakim, made the offer on Sunday during a joint news conference in Baghdad with visiting Iranian counterpart Mohammed Javad Zarif.

"We are trying to help and to be mediators," said al-Hakim, adding that Baghdad "will work to reach a satisfactory solution" while stressing that Iraq stands against unilateral steps taken by Washington.

In recent weeks, tensions between Washington and Tehran soared over the US deploying an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf over a still-unexplained threat it perceives from Tehran. Washington also plans to send 900 additional troops to the 600 already in the Middle East and extending their stay.

The crisis takes root in President Donald Trump's withdrawal last year of the US from the 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers that capped Iran's uranium enrichment activities in return for lifting sanctions. Washington subsequently re-imposed sanctions on Iran, sending its economy into freefall.

Trump has argued that the deal failed to sufficiently curb Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons or halt its support for militias throughout the Middle East that the US says destabilise the region, as well as address the issue of Tehran's missiles, which can reach both US regional bases and Israel.

Zarif, who was been on a whirlwind diplomatic offensive to preserve the rest of the accord, insisted that Iran "did not violate the nuclear deal" and urged European nations to exert efforts to preserve the deal following the US pullout.

Speaking about the rising tensions with the US, Zarif said Iran will be able to "face the war, whether it is economic or military through steadfastness and its forces". He also urged for a non-aggression agreement between Iran and Arab countries in the Gulf.

Fine balance

Shia-majority Iraq has been trying to maintain a fine line as allies Tehran and Washington descended into verbal vitriol. The country also lies on the fault line between Shia Iran and the mostly Sunni Arab world, led by powerhouse Saudi Arabia, and has long been a battlefield in which the Saudi-Iran rivalry for regional supremacy played out.

The mediation offer by al-Hakim, Iraq's foreign minister, echoed one made Saturday by Mohammed al-Halbousi, the Iraqi parliament speaker. Al-Hakim also expressed concern for Iran's spiraling economy.

Iranians make up the bulk of millions of Shia from around the world who come to Iraq every year to visit its many holy places and their purchasing power has slumped after Trump re-imposed the sanctions.

"The sanctions against sisterly Iran are ineffective and we stand by its side," al-Hakim said.

National referendum

Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani suggested the Islamic Republic could hold a referendum over its nuclear program. The official IRNA news agency said Rouhani, who was last week publicly chastised by the country's supreme leader, made the suggestion in a meeting with editors of major Iranian news outlets on Saturday evening.

Rouhani said he had previously suggested a referendum to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in 2004, when Rouhani was a senior nuclear negotiator for Iran.

At the time, Khamenei approved of the idea and though there was no referendum, such a vote "can be a solution at any time", Rouhani was quoted as saying.

A referendum could provide political cover for the Iranian government if it chooses to increase its enrichment of uranium, prohibited under the 2015 nuclear deal.

Earlier last week, Iran said it quadrupled its uranium-enrichment production capacity though Iranian officials made a point to stress that the uranium would be enriched only to the 3.67% limit set under the deal, making it usable for a power plant but far below what's needed for an atomic weapon.

Rouhani's remarks could also be seen as a defense of his stance following the rare public chastising by the supreme leader.

Khamenei last week named Rouhani and Zarif - relative moderates within Iran's Shiite theocracy who had struck the nuclear deal - as failing to implement his orders over the accord, saying it had "numerous ambiguities and structural weaknesses" that could damage Iran.

Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state in Iran, did not immediately respond to Rouhani's proposal of a referendum. 

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