Anatolia: Saudi openness to the Shiites of Iraq came at the request of the United States and these a

Anatolia: Saudi openness to the Shiites of Iraq came at the request of the United States and these are his goals



Arabic and International   Friday, August 04, 2017



The Anatolia news agency said in an analytical report that Riyadh's reception of Iraqi Shiite leaders during the last period is an attempt to "penetrate" Iran's influence and reduce its dominance over Baghdad as part of a Saudi strategy to return Iraq to its Arab environment.

The newspaper quoted an Iraqi expert that the shake hands of Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Jawad Zarif in Istanbul last Tuesday - which came at the time when the Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr to visit the Kingdom - carrying a letter from Riyadh to Tehran that we can go to your stadium (Iraq) and your response to it, and also ready to extend our hand to you provided that you stop your interventions in the region.

The experts agreed that Saudi Arabia's strategy in Iraq lacked Gulf and Arab support to achieve its objectives. They called on Saudi Arabia, the Gulf states and the Arab states to form a strong Iraqi Sunni bloc capable of having a presence in the map of the political process.

On the sidelines of the meeting of the Extraordinary Executive Committee of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Al-Jubeir, Zarif, shook hands with the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Istanbul on Tuesday.

It is noteworthy that the handshake between the heads of the diplomatic relations in the two countries came after Saudi Arabia accused Iran of procrastination and refused to complete the investigation into the storming of its embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad in January 2016. Two days after al-Jubayr criticized Iran for a press conference in Manama, Dealing with Iran will be a negative result, the Iranians caused destruction, killing, corruption and destruction, no country has dealt with Iran and achieved good. "

The handshake also came at a time when Muqtada al-Sadr was concluding a three-day visit to the kingdom (July 30 to August 1) on a rare visit, the first since 2006, during which he met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman .

Sadr's visit came two weeks after Iraqi Interior Minister Qassim Mohammad al-Araji, a member of the Badr Corps, visited July 17.

The visit was preceded by a visit to the Kingdom by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on June 19 and 20, the first since he took office in late 2014. The two countries agreed to establish a "coordinating council" to upgrade their relations to the "strategic level."

The relationship between Riyadh and Baghdad tension during the last period, after Baghdad submitted a request, in August last, to Riyadh, to replace the Saudi ambassador, Thamer al-Sobhan, after accusing him of "interfering in Iraqi internal affairs."

After decades of tension, relations began to improve dramatically after Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir's visit to Baghdad on February 25 was the first by a senior Saudi official since 1990.



Turned after the summit of Riyadh

Iraqi political writer and analyst Iyad al-Dulaimi said in an exclusive statement to the Anatolia agency that "the visit of Iraqi Shiite officials or leaders of political and religious currents to Saudi Arabia is not new. He has already visited Ammar al-Hakim and Muqtada al-Sadr during the reign of the late King Abdullah. Saudi Arabia has announced the reopening of its embassy in Baghdad in 2015 and the appointment of Ambassador Thamir al-Sbahan, which soon began a large-scale campaign by politicians and Iraqi Shiites after the Time to change it. "

He pointed out that the recent Saudi moves towards Iraq came specifically after the Arab American Islamic Summit in Riyadh on 21 May last, which was evident in the support of the Iraqi government headed by Haider Abadi.

"Washington asked the Arab countries to open up to the government of Abbadi, and we saw how Baghdad and during a short period of that summit received many Arab ministers, and Riyadh, which represents the Arab and Islamic weight, received Haider Abadi on a rare visit to an Iraqi prime minister to Riyadh last month , Followed by the visit of Interior Minister Qassim al-Araji, who belongs to the Badr Corps, and then came the visit of the leader of the Sadrist movement Moqtada al-Sadr and his meeting with Prince Mohammed bin Salman. "

Al-Dulaimi said that there is "an American push for the Arabs to open up to Iraq and that the Arabs have an equal presence and a fair Iranian presence."

In addition to this "American push," he said, "Saudi Arabia is also trying to try to contain the Arab Shiites and drag them away from Iran."

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