MESOPOTAMIA TODAYS WARNING : Against Backdrop Of Iranian President Rohani’s Visit To Baghdad, ‘Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed Warns Iraq Not To Become An Iranian Proxy
13 March 2019 – MESOP – Against the backdrop of Iranian President Hassan Rohani’s recent visit to Baghdad, senior Saudi journalist ‘Abd Al-Rahman Al-Rashed, the former editor of the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat and former director of Alarabiya TV, wrote that Iran is exerting intense pressures on Iraq in order to turn it into its proxy. Iran, he said, is trying to use Iraq as a shield against the effects of the U.S. sanctions, and also expects Iraq to bankroll its militias and to give up its own interests in favor of Iran. However, there is no reason for Iraq to pay the price of Iran’s troubles, especially since Iran brought them on with by refusing to give up its nuclear program and its extremist policies of spreading chaos in other countries. Al-Rashed warned Iraq not to become an Iranian proxy like Lebanon, lest it lose everything it has achieved since regaining its stability