US SENATOR URGES TALK WITH IRAN ON IRAQ
Washington, 18 Sya’ban 1435/16 June 2014 (MINA) – A top US Republican senator has called on the Obama administration to seek Iran’s help to prevent what he sees as a possible “collapse” of the Iraqi government.
“We are probably going to need their help to hold Baghdad,” from takeover by the Takfiri militant groups that have seized control over northern Iraqi cities and is approaching the nation’s capital, Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Graham described the holding of any talks with Iran as unattractive but unavoidable for the US government, Press TV quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting. Monday.
His comments come as Tehran has voiced its opposition to any foreign intervention in the Iraqi affairs.
Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said on Saturday that any measure complicating the situation in Iraq will neither benefit the country nor the region.
She cited the enhancement of Iraq’s national unity as the only way to help the country tackle the ongoing crisis.
Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services committee, is a leading Republican voice on military policy.
Washington already deployed a warship, the USS George H.W. Bush, to the Persian Gulf for possible airstrikes against Takfiri militants.
On Saturday, Secretary of State John Kerry said the US is committed to helping Iraq beat back al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
In a telephone call to Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Kerry said Washington was ready to provide assistance against the terrorists, but it would only work if Iraqi leaders resolve their differences. He advised Iraqi officials to endorse the results of April 30 parliamentary elections in Iraq and to form a new government.
On June 10, the ISIL militants took control of Nineveh province, including its provincial capital Mosul, in a lightning advance, which was followed by the fall of Tikrit, located 140 kilometers (87 miles) northwest of Baghdad.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that the country’s security forces would confront the terrorists, calling Mosul seizure a “conspiracy.”
He blamed Saudi Arabia and Qatar for the security crisis and growing terrorism in his country, denouncing Riyadh as a major supporter of global terrorism. (T/E01/IR)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)
