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Press: Iraqi Prime Minister's Visit to Iran

Posted on: Saturday, 23 July 2005, 03:00 CDT

Text of commentary entitled "The ifs and buts of a visit" by Iranian newspaper Afarinesh on 18 July

Ibrahim al-Ja'fari, the Iraqi prime minister, is the highest- ranking Iraqi Government official to travel to Iran after several decades of strained relations between Iran and Iraq. He is also the highest-ranking official to enter Tehran after the Iraqi elections and the establishment of the new government in that country.

Therefore, the Iraqi prime minister's visit to Iran must be considered a historic trip. It is precisely for this reason that this political visit is facing widespread regional and international reaction.

Several points can be raised about this important visit:

1. Iran and Iraq's close relations are faced with three major blocks. First, the US and the West have no interest in seeing cooperation between the two countries. It is particularly very heavy and unbearable for them, and especially for the US and Britain to have overthrown the former Iraqi regime and in its place to have Tehran's desirable regime come to power. Of course this issue has happened to a certain degree, in a way that some Western media have repeatedly made the comment: "We fought, Iran won!" On the other hand, some of the Arab countries in the region are concerned about any cooperation between the two Shi'i countries of Iran and Iraq. With the illusion of a Shi'i crescent, they fear the two strategic countries of Iran and Iraq would be able to help each other promote a new dialogue of Shi'i Islam in the region and then in the Arab and Islamic world, and this is not at all pleasant for the Arab governments. They tolerated Saddam up to this point because in a country with a majority Shi'i population he was able to preserve a non-Shi'i government. However, a third factor in the friction is related to terrorist groups active in Iraq. These groups, which have radical religious political tendencies, will never tolerate close relations between Tehran and Baghdad, and will probably try to use bombings, attacks on diplomats, or kidnapping to create barriers on this path. Therefore, intense anti-terrorism awareness by the officials of both countries is essential.

2. Ibrahim Ja'fari has said the basis for the re-establishment of relations between Iran and Iraq is the Al-Jazeera Treaty of 1975. This emphasis is important, as Iraq's former regime violated all aspects of this treaty and attacked Iran, ignoring this treaty. The legitimate government of Iraq admitting the credibility of the Al- Jazeera Treaty is a victory for our country. However, one point in Ja'fari's remarks should not be ignored. He said that Baghdad is interested in having certain changes implemented in the mentioned treaty, and of course in order not to raise any reaction in Iran, he has added that these changes will include items in the interest of both nations. Ja'fari's cautious remarks must be countered with a serious and definite response by Iran, so that the Iraqi prime minister realizes his closeness to the Iranian officials and his current sensitive position cannot be a reason for changing the Al- Jazeera Treaty. Evidently, if both countries have a mutual inclination, they can pursue their interests within the framework of new treaties. We have not forgotten that there are several political forces within Iraq who are trying to revive the policies of the Ba'ath regime regarding Iran by going beyond the Al-Jazeera Treaty. They are especially trying to pursue their intentions in the border areas between Iran and Iraq in Khuzestan Province. Hazem Shalaan, who was the Iraqi defence minister at one time and is now a member of this country's parliament, is the most prominent and best-known Iraqi figure on the scene working to eliminate anti-Iranian tensions.

3. The same way the Iraqis are after their own interests when it comes to Iran, we must as well take advantage of Iraq's current political circumstances and open the issues we had in reference to the Iraqi regime, including revival of the forced war indemnity issue, speeding up the search for the missing in both countries, as well as the establishment of the hypocrites in Iraq; we must solve these issues.

4. The Iraqis have much hope of creating a circulation of billions of dollars in their national economy annually by attracting Iranian pilgrims to the sacred shrines. In this regard, there was a previous warning and it is now repeated and emphasized: the Iranian party must not provide the grounds for the presence of Iranian pilgrims in Iraq without receiving an incentive from Iraqi officials and without giving a one-sided agreement and a hefty profit to Iraq.

Source: BBC Monitoring Middle East

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