TEHRAN, 31 August 2004 — Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei yesterday said US forces fighting militia in Najaf were defeated by the “spiritual glory” of the Iraqi Shiite holy city. “Despite their modern equipment, the occupiers failed before the spiritual glory of this holy place and this is one of the amazing incidents of our time,” Khamenei told a crowd of Islamist students.
The battle in Najaf ended last week when Iraq’s Shiite spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani brokered a peace deal as US and Iraqi government forces pounded the area around the Imam Ali shrine where rebel cleric Moqtada Sadr’s Mehdi Army militias were holding out.
Referring to Iran as a “source of hope for the world due to its confrontational position” toward the United States, Khamenei warned that “the world arrogance has targeted Iranian youth” in order to shut off the source. “Today, we are in the middle of a cultural-political battlefield, a war of dual identity,” the all-powerful leader noted.
Meanwhile, Iran’s top national security executive, Hassan Rowhani, assured Iraqi officials of Iran’s resolve to join hands to establish security in Iraq, the state news agency IRNA reported. “Iran will not withhold any help to provide security in Iraq, because not only is the two countries’ security tied to each other, but Iraq’s security is also related to the region’s and dependent on the exit of foreign forces as soon as possible,” Rowhani said Sunday in a meeting with the visiting Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh.
Pointing to the Iran-Iraq security treaty of 1975, Rowhani said it was a valid basis for mutual border and security cooperation, and condemned the activities of “terrorist” groups. Saleh arrived in Tehran on Sunday with other officials on a fence-mending mission from his US-backed government to clear security questions and to press Iran to stop its alleged interference in its neighbor’s affairs.
Rowhani pressed for the establishment of a government elected by Iraqi people in the near future, which he said would only be made possible by providing security and stability in Iraq.
Rowhani praised the role of the Shiite authorities in Iraq in ending fighting in the Najaf. “Iraq’s history shows the Shiite authority has always been an element for unity, stability, security and independence for Iraq, and a key player in linking other Muslim nations with Iraq,” he said.
“Undoubtedly, good relations between Tehran and Baghdad would both preserve the two countries’ national interests and assure the region’s stability and security as well,” he said. In a separate meeting with the visiting Iraqi delegation, Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolvahed Moussavi Lari stressed the need for stability and security in Iraq for the region. “The enemies are afraid of good ties and coexistence between Iran and Iraq,” Lari said.
