Iran Says US Undermined Efforts to Stabilize Iraq

TEHRAN — Iran said on Sunday that America’s iron-fisted policies and the lack of security undermined Iranian efforts to bring calm to Iraq and that it would no longer cooperate with Washington on those endeavors.

Iran had sent a diplomatic delegation to Iraq in an effort to improve security but Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the team did not make the contacts it had hoped, and blamed the Americans.

The latest setback to Iranian efforts came after an Iranian diplomat was killed in Baghdad on Thursday, causing Iran to distance itself from mediation efforts to end a standoff between Iraqi militias loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and US forces.

“From the very beginning of the crisis, Iran tried to help ease tension but ... Washington’s employment of an iron-fist policy further complicated the situation,” Asefi said.

He was apparently referring to the increasing use of force by the US military, which laid siege to Fallujah last week after the killing and mutilation of four American civilians.

He also said America’s policies caused the failure of the mission of an Iranian diplomatic delegation to Iraq last week.

He said Hossein Sadeghi, a top Iranian Foreign Ministry official, failed to meet with al-Sadr and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, Iraq’s most powerful Shiite cleric.

“We couldn’t meet Sadr or Ayatollah Sistani ... because of lack of security,” Asefi said.

The spokesman said that although Iran’s influence was limited, without its efforts the situation in Iraq “would have been even more complicated,” but said Iran would not cooperate any longer with the United States over Iraq.

“It’s natural that we can’t cooperate with occupying forces unless occupiers give administration to the United Nations so that power is transferred to the Iraqi people within an acceptable timetable,” he said.

“We consider the US one of the countries creating the crisis. So, there is no talk of cooperation but announcing opinions and warnings so that it gets out of this situation,” he told reporters.