AFP: Baghdad and the United Nations should draw up a plan for the withdrawal of US-led coalition forces from Iraq, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Saturday. ISTANBUL (AFP) Baghdad and the United Nations should draw up a plan for the withdrawal of US-led coalition forces from Iraq, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Saturday.
“The withdrawal of the foreign forces from Iraq must take place based on a plan that is introduced by the government of Iraq,” Mottaki told reporters on the sidelines of a multinational conference here on Iraqi security.
“Based on that plan, the United Nations should make a decision to end the mission of the foreign forces on an agreed date,” he said.
Mottaki was speaking after talks here between foreign ministers from Iraq’s neighbours and major Western powers on efforts to stabilise the war-ravaged country.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon are also attending the conference.
Meanwhile, Mottaki lashed out at private security firms operating in Iraq, pointing at the recent controversy surrounding the Blackwater company.
“Security companies like Blackwater are one of the main causes of insecurity in Iraq,” he said. “They know very well only how to kill people.”
Mottaki also suggested a two-year moratorium on efforts to solve some of Iraq’s political problems, such as a referendum on the status of the ethnically volatile, oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
“We do accept the will and the decision of the Iraqi people, but we believe we must calm the situation so there can be a good decision,” he said.
The United States accuses Iran of seeking to sabotage security in Iraq by supplying weapons to insurgents, a claim Tehran denies.
