tehran • President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday the power of the United States was rapidly collapsing in Iraq and that Iran was ready to step in to help fill the vacuum, in comments likely to irritate Washington.
“The political power of the occupiers (of Iraq) is being destroyed rapidly and very soon we will be witnessing a great power vacuum in the region,” Ahmadinejad told a news conference broadcast live on state television.
“We, with the help of regional friends and the Iraqi nation, are ready to fill this void.”
With Shi’ite Muslims now in power in Baghdad, ties have strengthened between Iran and Iraq since 2003, when US-led forces toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Arab who waged an eight-year war against Iran in the 1980s.
But the US military accuses the Islamic Republic of arming and training militias that are behind some of the violence ravaging Iraq. Iran rejects the charge and blames the presence of US forces, numbering about 162,000, for the violence.
“They are trapped in the swamp of their own crimes and have no choice but to accept the failure and accept the independence and rights of the Iraqi nation,” Ahmadinejad said.
“If you stay in Iraq for another 50 years nothing will improve, it will just worsen.”
http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Gulf%2C+Middle+East+%26+Africa&month=August2007&file=World_News2007082924913.xml
1 comment:
"“They are trapped in the swamp of their own crimes and have no choice but to accept the failure and accept the independence and rights of the Iraqi nation,” Ahmadinejad said.
“If you stay in Iraq for another 50 years nothing will improve, it will just worsen.”
Like many other countries in the region, that's how this is looking, and Ahmadinejad and his allies don't see this improving.
Post a Comment