Iran seeks withdrawal of U.S.-led troops from Iraq

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jun. 18 – Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that Iraq’s various groupings and factions had to maintain unity in order to prevent “foreign powers” from “infiltrating” and “ruling” Iraq.
Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jun. 18 – Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday that Iraq’s various groupings and factions had to maintain unity in order to prevent “foreign powers” from “infiltrating” and “ruling” Iraq.

Ahmadinejad made the remarks, reported in state-run news agencies, during a meeting with the Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), Tehran’s main ally in the current Iraqi government.

“The Iraqi pluralistic government can use the vast potentials of the religious and learned people of the country and provide lasting security and resolve problems in order to pave the way for the departure of the foreigners from Iraq”, Ahmadinejad said.

SCIRI which began operating in Iran in 1982 was the brainchild of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Iran’s current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had originally been assigned to write the council’s manifesto.

Iran’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi was the group’s chairman for several years after its founding while Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim was appointed as the group’s spokesman. Mohammed Baqer al-Hakim, the elder brother of Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, died in a deadly bomb blast in August 2003 in the Iraqi city of Najaf.

The group, which still maintains strong ties with Tehran and strongly backs greater Iranian presence in Iraq, has a military wing called the Badr Brigade.