Iran says “terrorists” should not be let into Iraq

By Edmund Blair

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran, accused by the United States of
stirring up an Iraqi insurgency, said on Saturday “terrorist”
groups should be stopped from entering Iraq because they
created an excuse for foreign troops to stay.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also said in a speech
to a meeting of ministers from Baghdad’s neighbors that
surrounding states were committed to ensuring stability in
Iraq.

“It is necessary to stop the crossing of terrorist groups
into Iraq who aim at creating insecurity, hatred and
differences, and pave the way for the presence of foreign
forces in Iraq,” Ahmadinejad told the foreign ministers in
Tehran.

He did not say from where or how the groups were entering.

Washington accuses Tehran of backing anti-U.S. insurgents
in Iraq, a charge Tehran denies saying the U.S. occupation is
to blame for the instability.

“We are all committed to try to restore stability, security
and progress in Iraq,” Ahmadinejad told the gathering.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called for a
timetable to be drawn up for foreign forces to leave and said
Iraq’s neighbors should not be blamed for the country’s
problems.

“It is impossible to bestow freedom and democracy by
resorting to violence and to cover up the failures in Iraq by
accusing and conspiring against its neighbors,” he said in a
speech to the closed session, a copy of which was handed out.

Syria has also been accused by Washington of not doing
enough to stop militants crossing into Iraq. Asked what more
Damascus could do to secure its border, Syrian Foreign Minister
Walid al-Moualem said: “We are doing our best.”

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said Iraq wanted
neighboring states to help improve security and to support the
new government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and its
national reconciliation plan.

“We asked them to use their influence over all the groups
to participate, to embrace this national reconciliation
initiative,” Zebari told reporters without naming the groups.

Iraqi officials have said some Iraqi insurgents have asked
Arab states to act as mediators following the offer of
dialogue.

Most Arab states are ruled by Sunni Arabs, the majority
sect within Islam, and some of these view with suspicion Iraq’s
Shi’ite majority. Non-Arab Iran is also mainly Shi’ite.

Ministers and officials from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
Bahrain and Turkey were among those attending the meeting that
ends on Sunday, as well as Egypt, which does not share a border
with Iraq. Arab League chief Amr Moussa also attended.

(Additional reporting by Alireza Ronaghi)