Iran Defense Minister: US wants Iran-Iraq confrontation

Iran Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi believes the United States' final goal in Iraq is to incite confrontation between Iran and Iraq.

In a statement issued on Saturday after United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates urged Arab allies to strengthen their military capabilities in order to put more international pressure on Iran, Vahidi told Fars news agency, reports AFP, ‘America's final goal is to create confrontation between Iran and Iraq.’ Gates went on to further state that a Democratic Iraq could diminish Iran’s influence on their southern neighbor, “I think that a strong and democratic Iraq, particularly one with a multi-sectarian government, becomes a barrier to Iranian influence and not a bridge for it.” Vahidi advised the US not to create military friction between other countries and not to “militarize the atmosphere in the region.” He suggested that the US change their foreign policy in the Middle East to make up for their past mistakes, reports France 24. The Secretary of Defense concluded in his interview, ‘So I think, in the short term, perhaps Iran's position was strengthened somewhat but I think if you look to the longer term, and the role that Iraq can play in the region going forward, I think that Iran's position may well be diminished.’ This is not the first time a war was brewed between Iran and Iraq. During the 1980s, the two nations fought a brutal war, which left one million people dead however, since the fall of Saddam Hussein, relations between the two countries have become better. Ahmad Vahidi, the newest Defense Minister who was strongly supported by Parliament, is wanted in Argentina after the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center. At the beginning of September, the US became weary of Iran’s decision to choose Vahidi, “Iran today is taking a step backward by putting into a high office a well-known individual suspected of participation in a terrorist act. For Iran, it is sending precisely the wrong message,” said State Department PJ Crowley, according to the BBC.