Ahmadinejad: Iran ready to fill Iraq power vacuum

Ahmadinejad: Iran ready to fill Iraq power vacuum

http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2157717,00.html

The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, today said Tehran was ready to fill an imminent power vacuum in Iraq in remarks that can be seen as a direct challenge to the US.

"The political power of the occupiers is collapsing rapidly," Mr Ahmadinejad said at a press conference in Tehran. "Soon, we will see a huge power vacuum in the region. Of course, we are prepared to fill the gap, with the help of neighbours and regional friends like Saudi Arabia, and with the help of the Iraqi nation."

His remarks will do little to dispel US fears that Iran is seeking to increase its regional influence, taking advantage of Iraq's weakened state.

Mr Ahmadinejad also accused the US of interfering in Iraq's internal affairs after Washington said efforts by the country's prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki, to reconcile the country's divided Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds were not enough. "They rudely say (the Iraqi) prime minister and the constitution must change," Mr Ahmadinejad said. "Who are you? Who has given you the right?"

Mr Ahamadinejad was speaking amid a debate on the US on whether to continue the military "surge" that began in February. Some senior Republicans such as senator John Warner are calling for troop withdrawals. Others argue that the injection of 30,000 troops has produced more progress than anticipated and that the surge should continue.

A report by the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, expected next month, is expected to recommend the continued deployment of large numbers of US forces in the country.

But the picture for the US has been complicated by Britain's decision to reduce its number of troops in the south. Jack Keane, a retired US general, said last week that the security situation was deteriorating in Basra and that the US might have to redeploy to the south if the British withdrew, a contention that the foreign secretary David Miliband today rejected.

The US has consistently accused Iran of providing help to Shia extremists in Iraq who have taken a deadly toll of American forces through sophisticated roadside bombs.

The US is considering declaring Iran's Revolutionary Guards a terrorist force for its support of Shia militants in order to ratchet up the pressure on Iran, already under UN sanctions because of its nuclear programme.

Mr Ahmadinejad said Iran would respond to such a step.

"They know that any action against the Iranian nation would be faced with a proper response," Mr Ahmadinejad, himself a former Guards commander, told reporters. But he also said he believed it was "highly unlikely that the American government will take such an illogical approach ... it would be a joke I guess."

In his press conference, the Iranian leader reiterated that Tehran has achieved full proficiency in the nuclear fuel cycle and warned the west that dialogue and friendship - not threats - were the right way to deal with Iran.

"Today, Iran is a nuclear Iran," Mr Ahmadinejad said. "That means, it fully possesses the whole nuclear fuel cycle."

He added, however, that Iran was committed to a "peaceful path" in pursuing its nuclear programme. His comments followed an announcement yesterday by the International Atomic Energy Agency which said that Tehran was offering some cooperation in the agency's investigation of an alleged secret uranium processing project linked by US intelligence to a nuclear arms programme.