Supreme Leader Claims 'U.S. Agents' Seek a New Saddam

Is the United States seeking to install a Saddam-like dictator in Iraq by stoking that nation's civil war? According to this news account from Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei has told visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Talibani that America's agents 'are doomed to failure,' and that Tehran will do all it can to assist Iraqis in restoring security.

November 28, 2006
Iran - Islamic Republic News Agency - Original Article (English)    

The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, said at a meeting with visiting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Tuesday that continued insecurity and genocide in Iraq would harm all states in the region. Ayatollah Khamenei referred to insecurity in Iraq as a serious concern.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran considers offering assistance to establish security in Iraq as its religious and humane task," the Supreme Leader said. He also said that Iran seeks Iraq's security, progress and development, adding that the security of Iraqi cities is just as important as the security of Iranian cities. "If Iraqi officials call for such help, Iran will spare no effort to promote that nation's stability and security."

Ayatollah Khamenei said that the insecurities that exist in Iraq are designed to undermine its popular government, and that because of the failure of these plots against Iraq, its enemies [the U.S.-led coalition] are doing anything they can to undermine the situation.

"Meanwhile, their main targets are former Baathists and Takfiris terrorists," [Islamist Shiite extremists], said the Supreme Leader.

Stressing that those responsible for Iraq's insecurity act under the cover of sectarian conflict between Shiites and Sunnis, Ayatollah Khamenei said, "The fact is that Shiites and Sunnis have coexisted peacefully for several centuries without any discord among them. It is, rather, U.S. policies that are being implemented through mediators that are the main cause of Iraq's current situation."

Referring to Iraq's continuing insecurity as a great catastrophe that brings grief to the people of the country, the Supreme Leader said that those implementing these policies intend to appoint a new dictator similar to Saddam Hussein, but that certainly, they are doomed to failure. Ayatollah Khamenei referred to U.S. agents in the region as mediators who are implementing this policy and are responsible for the resulting insecurity.

"Strengthening terrorist groups in Iraq and igniting the flames of insecurity and genocide will prove to be very risky strategies for the U.S. agents themselves and for the region. American agents in Iraq are doomed to fail, and any continuation of Iraq's occupation is not a strategy that America can swallow," the Supreme Leader said.

Ayatollah Khamenei said that the first step toward addressing Iraq's insecurity would be the withdrawal of foreign forces and the passing on of security responsibility to Iraq's popular government.

The Supreme Leader also spoke of the need to pursue and implement mutually-agreed upon steps toward a further expansion of Iran-Iraq ties. At the meeting which was attended by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Talabani again expressed satisfaction with his visit to Iran and said that broadening relations would be beneficial to both sides.

Talabani said that those who are responsible for the insecurity and genocide are people who fear a democratic and modern Iraq. President Talabani said that right now, the Iraqi government has no control over the nation's security.

"If the government is given the task of restoring the country's security, it could be established by mobilizing the people," he added. Meanwhile, he said he appreciated Iran's repeated assistance to the Iraqi people.

Accompanied by a senior delegation of political and economic officials, Talabani arrived in Tehran on Monday evening. Later on Monday, he was given an official welcome at the Presidential Office by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

VIDEO FROM IRAN: 'AMERICA

DESTROYED IRAN'S ENEMIES'

IRANIAN TV, IRAN: Excerpts from an interview with Mohsen Rezai, Secretary of the Iranian Expediency Council, November 11, 00:04:08, MEMRI

"America's arrival in the region presented Iran with an historic opportunity. The kind of service that the Americans, with all their hatred, have done us - no superpower has ever done anything similar."

Mohsen Rezai, Iranian Expediency Council Secretary