Iran: US Seeks Modern Barbarism in Iraq

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran urged the international community to respect Iraqi interests, saying the pact the US wants Baghdad to sign encourages “modern savagery”.

“Occupiers have come to the region from afar, causing serious problems for the Muslim world. We must adopt a new outlook,” press tv quoted Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani as saying in the Bahraini capital of Manama. “The deal ensures modern savagery.”

According to the official, the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) Washington wants Iraq to finalize before its UN mandate in the oil-rich country expires on December 31 constitutes a flagrant violation of the rights of the Iraqi nation and is an obstacle to Iraqi sovereignty.

The controversial agreement gives legal basis to its military presence in the oil-rich country and grants immunity from prosecution in Iraqi courts to US forces who commit crimes inside the agreed facilities and areas owned by the government of Iraq but used by US forces as of January 1, 2009.

Upon arrival in Iran after his three-day visit to Bahrain on Thursday, the parliament speaker called for nations to respect the rights of Iraqis.

“Before we think of our own interests, we must pay heed to the interests of Iraq,” he said.

He explained that the provisions of the alleged security agreement require that Iraqis be treated as second-class citizens with lesser rights than American forces.

“America will be able to import as many weapons as they wish without the requirement of undergoing Iraqi government inspections,” he added. “It seems that they want to push Iraq in a direction that will limit the authority of the Iraqi government.”

“These provisions mean that the Iraqi government will not be the actual administrator of the country. No national figure will support this agreement in its current form,” he continued.

He also drew parallels between the provisions of the US-proposed agreement and capitulatory rights granted to nationals of specific imperialist countries before the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

“Because of this (Iran’s negative experience with the immunity from legal prosecution of specific foreign nationals) in our talks with Iraqi leaders, we have warned of the various dimensions of the issue,” he concluded.