May 2016
With the reform movement gaining momentum in
the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, along with measures
taken by Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr to achieve these reforms, a serious rift
and divide inside the Shiite coalition has become visible more than ever
before. Considering the fact that rooted reforms have been the demand of the
senior Shiite clergy, various members of the Shiite coalition have publicly
supported the reforms proposed by al-Abadi and Sadr, yet behind the scenes they
continue to emphasize on the quota system of appointing ministers. This has
caused major divides amongst the establishing currents of the National
Alliance. Iran is extremely concerned of the Shiite coalition in Iraq
crumbling, and therefore to this day Tehran has dispatched a significant number
of delegations to resolve these disputes in Iraq. Significant is the fact that
none of the Shiite coalition currents are willing to accept the requests raised
by Iranian representatives.
In mid-March Iran sent Mullah Mohsen Araki,
Secretary-General of the Global Islamic Association of Religious Access to Iraq
along with a delegation. One objective of this mission was to send a message
from senior Iranian religious letters to Iraq’s Shiite groups to set aside
their differences and unite, or else the Sunnis will rise to power.
On March 17th Araki met with Nouri
al-Maliki as Secretary-General of the Dawa Party, in which Iranian ambassador
to Iraq Danaie-Far and former Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki also
took part. Mullah Araki said the most important role of the Shiite groups is to
maintain unity amongst the Shiites, adding this is more important than their
battle against Daesh (the Arabic acronym for the self-proclaimed Islamic State,
or ISIS). Maliki has said the Shiite coalition is currently lacking a leader,
and each party and group is seeking their own interests and portion in the
ruling circle, adding this has led to the Shiites losing their previous unity.
Araki presumptuously referred to Maliki’s repressive measures during his tenure
as PM and his policies against the Sadrists. “Solidarity, Islamic unity and
Islamic cooperation” amongst the various currents of the Shiite coalition must
be taken into consideration as an undeniable principle, adding this is a sharia
duty.
Divides between Shiite political groups has
been weakening the spirits of the Popular Mobilization Forces for some time
now. Maliki in his meeting with Araki referred to this matter and said a number
PMF commanders are asking for his presence amongst these forces to lift their
spirits. Considering the low morale amongst the PMF and based on a request
mentioned by Maliki, Araki, joined by Mottaki and a number of PMF commanders,
went to Iraq’s Salahadin Province and delivered speeches in Arabic in an
attempt to lift the PMF units’ spirits. In his speeches he described the PMF
units as the pride of the pride of the Iraqi people.
Mullah Araki in all his meetings with Shiite
alliance leaders, attempted to resolve their disputes. However, according to an
Iranian regime official inside the Araki delegation, the divides between Shiite
leaders had become too deep to be resolved by a figure of Araki’s low stature.
His visit to Iraq was scheduled to last a few days and meetings were
pre-arranged with all Shiite leaders. However, faced with the mounting rifts in
the Shiite ‘National Alliance’, Araki listened to advice provided by the
Iranian embassy in Baghdad, ended his visit short and returned to Tehran.
Iran’s assessment of the political crisis in
Iraq is that the source of all these issues is the divides between various
National Alliance currents, especially over Maliki himself. Considering the
fact that a planned trip by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Iraq had been announced
from long before, Rouhani had arrangements to see Shiite leaders, especially
Muqtada Sadr and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
To prepare the grounds for Rouhani’s
scheduled visit to Iraq and meeting with Shiite leaders, Iran dispatched Kamal
Kharazi, head of the Foreign Relations Strategic Council and a close confidant
of Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei, to Iraq with the goal of meeting with
Muqtada Sadr, currently considered an impetus force in Iraq. This meeting was
intended to pave the path for Rouhani’s meeting with Sadr. However, despite all
the efforts placed by Iran’s embassy in Iraq and the foreign ministry back in
Tehran, Sadr refused to meet with Kharazi and turned down a request to meet
with Rouhani. Kharazi attempted to specifically prepare these meetings with
Sadr through Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Jafari. However, all these efforts
were futile, driving the entire Kharazi trip to Iraq into a complete disaster
and forcing Rouhani to entirely call off this important visit.
Delivering an evaluation of his report to
Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Kharazi said the National Alliance in
Iraq is suffering from the positions adopted by Maliki and the difference
raging amongst various parties, especially due to this entity lacking a leader.
The differences are too deep for Iran to simply appoint a leader and resolve
the disputes, he said, adding Tehran’s should simply focus its efforts on
preventing the scope of these differences from escalating. Kharazi went on to
add the necessary solutions needed to prevent the Shiite coalition from
crumbling would be futile without Muqtada Sadr’s participation. Maliki and
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi literally have no role in Iraq’s current
political atmosphere, he added in his report.
Considering the fact that healing the rifts
between various groups of the Shiite coalition was part of Kharazi’s objective
in his visit to Iraq, and the fact that he was unable to reach these goals,
Rouhani was left with no choice but to officially cancel his visit to Iraq. Iran
is deeply concerned of the recent turn of events in the political landscape of
Iraq will result in a segment of the Shiite coalition distancing itself from
Tehran. As a result, the mullahs will no longer enjoy full hegemony over Iraq’s
Shiite parties. Internal disputes amongst the Shiite coalition and political
measures carried out throughout Iraq prove the mullahs have lost their
influence over Shiite parties. Iran’s weakened hegemony in Iraq is a signal of
the fall of all Iraqi parties linked to Iran.
Sending Kamal Kharazi to Iraq, himself linked
to Khamenei’s office, shows that the Iranian supreme leader and the Quds Force
are extremely concerned of the consequences of the recent Iraqi political
developments.
No comments:
Post a Comment