Iran Describes Supporters of Iraq’s Disintegration as Political Bunglers

The Iranian foreign ministry underlined the necessity for safeguarding Iraq’s territorial integrity, and said those speaking of Iraq’s disintegration are no more than naive politicians.

“Iraqi political and religious leaders and officials follow the situation in their country with sensitivity and vigilance and we also want the territorial integrity of countries, including the neighbors, to be maintained and we believe that such discussions will lead to nowhere, given the Iraqi nation’s vigilance and its political and religious leaders’ prudence,” Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said in her weekly press conference in Tehran on Wednesday.

“The Iraqi nation has shown that their country’s fate is important to them and they want an integrated Iraq and we as a neighboring state support the Iraqis’ clear and firm positions and believe that issues like disintegration are political bungling which lead to nowhere,” she added.

Her remarks came after US Army Chief of Staff General Raymond Odierno, who served as the top US commander in Iraq, said earlier this month that partitioning Iraq “is something that could happen and it might be the only solution”.

In relevant remarks earlier this month, Iranian Supreme Leader’s top adviser for international affairs Ali Akbar Velayati rapped the US for hatching plots to disintegrate the regional states, and said Tehran supports its friends against Washington’s schemes.

“The Americans are after influence in the region to disintegrate countries like Iraq and Syria but they will not succeed,” Velayati said in a meeting with former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Tehran.

He underlined Iran’s strong opposition to such policies, and said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran will stand against them and will support its friends and allies.”

Velayati also stressed that Tehran considers any move against the Islamic states’ territorial integrity as conspiracy against the entire Islamic Ummah.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian had also earlier lashed out at Odierno’s remarks, and said Washington’s wrong policies were the main cause of problems in the Arab country.

“The US interventions and its wrong policies in the region and Iraq have resulted in the emergence of serious problems in the country,” Amir Abdollahian said.

Amir Abdollahian renewed Iran’s support for Iraq’s national unity and territorial integrity” and described the US general’s remarks as “provocative” and against peace in the Arab country.

“Iraq’s political system has been clearly defined based on the country’s constitution, and the remarks by the high-ranking US military official are provocative, against the path towards peace and security in Iraq and the region, and are even in contravention of the policies of politicians in his country,” Amir Abdollahian said.

The Iranian deputy foreign minister reiterated that the Iraqi people along with political and religious leaders in the country can well solve their own problems if there is a strong global determination to battle terrorism.