IRAN-NUCLEAR/IRAQ REAX Baghdad welcomes Iran's nuclear deal

Record ID: 147100

  • Title: IRAN-NUCLEAR/IRAQ REAX Baghdad welcomes Iran's nuclear deal
  • Date: 15th July 2015
  • Summary: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (JULY 14, 2015) (REUTERS) ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** IRAQ'S VICE PRESIDENT IYAD ALLAWI GIVING INTERVIEW TO REUTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) IRAQ'S VICE PRESIDENT, IYAD ALLAWI, SAYING: "We hope that this deal will achieve political and regional stability and ensure the security of the region, God willing. Definitely, it is a step forward to achieve t
  • Embargoed: 30th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Iraq
  • Country: Iraq
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAEI1Q1JWZXLGJFV82DHK4J5ST8
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Iraq's Vice-President Iyad Allawi, a secular Shi'ite allied with several Sunni parties, gave a cautious welcome to Iran's historic nuclear deal on Tuesday (July 14), but said the talks should have included clauses on regional security as well.
    "We hope that this deal will achieve political and regional stability and ensure the security of the region, God willing. Definitely, it is a step forward to achieve the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons and, if Iran becomes a positive player in the region, the region will be better protected and Iran will be a vital part in the protection of the region instead of depending on foreign powers," said Allawi, a former interim prime minister, during an interview with Reuters.
    Although the nuclear accord addresses a long-standing and central dispute, deep differences remain including over the extent of Iranian and U.S. power across the Middle East.
    Those divisions mean that any political goodwill generated by the nuclear deal will be hard to translate into other areas, including resolving conflict in Syria and Iraq.
    Allawi said the talks had ignored the region's various security issues, including the ongoing fight against Islamic State militants.
    "Regional security includes not interfering in the internal affairs of countries and mutual interests," he said, pointing to Iran's deep military and political involvement in Iraq.
    "Unfortunately this matter has been ignored in the deal, yet it (the deal) remains an important topic," Allawi said.
    Tehran and Washington support Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi's government in its battle against Islamic State, although their historic hostility means they do not cooperate directly on the battlefield.
    A U.S.-led coalition has waged air strikes across northern and western Iraq for nearly a year in support of ground forces trying to recapture territory from Islamic State.
    The air support has been limited because the most effective forces fighting the hardline Sunni militants are Shi'ite militias, many of them directly supported by Iran.
    Iran's military support for Iraqi factions is in the hands of the Revolutionary Guards, said Allawi. The group have sought to project Iranian influence abroad since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution.
    If the nuclear deal leads Shi'ite Iran to be more assertive, Iraq's Sunni minority, which already complains of being marginalised by the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad, could feel more threatened.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register