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Iraq leaders press iran over interference Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-11-21T125615Z_01_SCH146436_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAQ-IRAN.xmlhttp://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-11-21T125615Z_01_SCH146436_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAQ-IRAN.xml
Iraqi leaders to press Iran over "interference"
Mon Nov 21, 2005 12:56 PM GMT
By Michael Georgy
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi leaders are expected to take a tough line with Iranian officials over allegations of Iranian interference in Iraq during talks in Tehran this week, political sources said on Monday.
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, the first Iraqi head of state to visit non-Arab, Shi'ite Iran since the late 1960s, and National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie were part of a delegation that arrived in Tehran on Monday.
They are expected to meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who last month called for the destruction of Israel, and security and intelligence officials, aides said.
Last week, during a separate visit to Iran, Rubaie, a Shi'ite, took a hard line with Iranian officials over accusations Tehran had failed to stop border infiltrations and weapons supplies to Shi'ite militia in Iraq.
Iran's government has denied allegations that it interferes in Iraqi affairs and that it supplies arms to militias.
Although Iranian and Iraqi officials were likely to hold cordial discussions on intelligence and security cooperation and efforts to stop insurgents and weapons from crossing their border, discussions will touch on sensitive security subjects, an adviser to Rubaie said on Monday.
"This issue will be raised in talks. Doctor Rubaie has been very candid in previous talks on the supply of weapons to militias," said the adviser, who asked not to be named.
SECTARIAN TENSIONS
Iran's influence in former war-foe Iraq is one the most volatile issues fuelling sectarian tensions between Sunni Arabs once dominant under Saddam Hussein and long-oppressed Shi'ites empowered after January elections.
Divisions deepened after the discovery earlier this month of more than 170 Sunni Arab prisoners in a bunker run by the Shi'ite-dominated Interior Ministry. Many looked malnourished and showed signs of torture. Iraq has promised an investigation.
Some political opponents of the Iraqi government said an Iranian official was involved in overseeing the secret bunker.
Sunnis, whose community is leading a bloody insurgency against the U.S.-backed government, see Shi'ite Iraqi leaders such as Islamist Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari as Iranian puppets because they were exiled in the Islamic Republic.
Washington and London have long accused Iran of fomenting unrest in Iraq but Britain made more detailed allegations in October, saying Iran's Revolutionary Guards supplied weapons to Shi'ite militia in Iraq used to attack British troops.
They said attacks in Iraq were carried out with armour-piercing explosives previously used by Lebanese Hizbollah, which is linked with Iran.
Britain also suspects that Iran has backed "Sunni elements" in Iraq, as well as the Shi'ite militia with which it has sectarian ties, an official said.
All those allegations have been denied by Iran.
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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