TEHRAN, 5 July 2004 — Iranian President Mohammad Khatami and his visiting Syrian counterpart, Bashar Assad, both called yesterday for the rapid departure of foreign troops from Iraq.
“This crisis was predictable, and its source was the aggression and occupation of Iraq by the United States,” Khatami told reporters after he greeted Assad, who arrived here earlier for a two-day visit.
“There is no ambiguity between us and Syria where Iraq is concerned. The solution is the quick end to the occupation, the installation of a government comprising all elements of the Iraqi people and the cooperation of the international community to bring stability and reconstruction,” he said.
For his part, Assad said “Iraq is on the top of our list of preoccupations” although he said the two would also discuss “Palestine and the halt in the peace process”.
“Regarding Iraq, we have always been in agreement with Iran on the need for Iraq’s territorial integrity, a representative government and the departure of the occupying forces,” he added.
Both Syria and Iran have been accused by the United States of supporting anti-coalition insurgents inside Iraq.
And according to a British newspaper report yesterday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said his government had gathered information from intelligence services showing support for the insurgents from some neighboring countries.
Zebari did not name the foreign powers, but the Sunday Telegraph quoted “senior Iraqi officials” as indicating “that Iran and Syria were the worst offenders”.
In a separate report, Syrian Information Minister Ahmad Al-Hassan told the Iranian news agency IRNA that Assad would also be discussing the alleged presence of Israeli forces inside Iraq.
“Unfortunately, the Israelis are active in northern parts of Iraq and their presence poses a serious threat to Iranian and Syrian security,” he was quoted as saying.
In June, the New Yorker magazine alleged that Israeli intelligence agents had infiltrated Iraq’s Kurdistan and slipped across into Iran to monitor nuclear facilities.
Israel’s embassy in Washington has denied the claim, but the magazine said a senior official at the US Central Intelligence Agency confirmed that Israelis are working for Iraq.
When asked if the two sides would also discuss their possible role in Iraq with multinational forces, the minister said it was “still too soon to comment on this”.
“Any decision should be made within the framework of joint consultations with all the neighbors of Iraq, or in the framework of the Arab League,” he added.
Assad, on his third visit to the Islamic republic since taking office in 2000, was accompanied by a high-level delegation, including Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam and Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Shara.
After being greeted by Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi at Tehran’s international airport, Assad met Khatami and was later lined up to meet Iran’s all-powerful guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Meanwhile, Iran said yesterday it would submit an indictment to the Baghdad court trying Saddam Hussein, who as president waged a protracted war against the Islamic government in Tehran.
Saddam appeared in court on Thursday and was told by an Iraqi judge he would face charges relating to seven alleged crimes spanning three decades, but no mention was made of the 1980-1988 war against Iran.
“Iran will definitely submit an indictment to the court, it is ready,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a news conference. “The trial should be open and his crimes against Iran should be reviewed.”
Charges against Saddam cover invading Kuwait in 1990, suppressing uprisings by Kurds and Shiites after the 1991 Gulf War, ethnic cleansing of Kurds in 1987-88 and gassing Kurdish villagers in 1988.
Hundreds of thousands died on both sides in the war of attrition between Iran and Iraq, in which Baghdad used poison gas against Iranian soldiers and civilians.
