The announcement came in a conference yesterday in Baghdads Palestine Hotel in the presence of about 500 Iraqis representing political, social and cultural groups. The signatures were put on display in long rows of folders.
Iraqi signatories included ethnic Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmen, from different religious backgrounds, including Sunni Muslims, Shiite Muslims, Christians, and people of other faiths.
The Iranian regime is pursuing a very dangerous course in Iraq, Sheikh Ali Al-Shammari, a Shiite tribal leader from southern Iraq said. We, as Iraqis who value our independence, feel we must speak out as strongly as possible against this undeclared war by Iran on our people and quasi-occupation of Iraqi territories by Tehran through their surrogates.
The petition offered strong support to the main Iranian opposition group, the Peoples Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI). Thousands of PMOI members are based at Camp Ashraf, near the Iran-Iraq border.
The Iraqi statement said that the PMOI was fighting a legitimate struggle against an unjust dictatorship, adding Irans meddling was the biggest cause of instability in present-day Iraq.
The petition called for a dialogue between the newly established Iraqi interim government and the PMOI.
There was no immediate reaction from Iraqi government officials.