Iran FM: Iraqi Rocket Attack Culprits Must Be Identified

Iraq FM promises attacks won't damage bilateral ties

In a meeting with Iranian FM Javad Zarif, Iraqi FM Fuad Hussein assured him that bilateral Iran-Iraq ties won’t be affected by the missile strikes, which US officials have blamed on Iraqi Shi’ite militias loyal to Iran.

Zarif sees these strikes as a serious problem, and also a suspicious one, saying Iran wants the culprits to be properly identified, and suggesting that they are deliberately trying to tarnish diplomatic ties.

It’s less about Iran-Iraq ties, of course than the US ties with each of them, as the US blames Iran, shying away from diplomacy, and also blames Iraq, potentially harming the US-Iraqi ties that have been built over years of occupation.

Iran had the foresight to warn its militias explicitly to not do this sort of thing during the period between US election and inauguration, and while they keep being blamed there is a lot of uncertainty over which militias are actually culpable, and some heretofore unheard of militias with Shi’ite-sounding names have also cropped up.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.