Iran makes high-profile display to push back against US and Saudi Arabia

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Trying to reassert its influence in a turbulent political and military situation in Iraq, Iran’s leaders courted Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi in Tehran on Thursday.

Abadi had an audience with the Supreme Leader, as well as meeting President Hassan Rouhani, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, and other senior Iranian officials.

The visit came as the Iraqi Government’s forces continue to press for more territory in northern Iraq, following the Iraqi Kurdistan vote for independence on September 25. Having taken the city of Kirkuk and surrounding oilfields and towns such as Sinjar, the Iraqi military and Iranian-backed Shia militias are reportedly clashing with Kurdish peshmerga over more areas near vital oil pipelines.

Iran is also responding to Abadi’s high-profile trip to Saudi Arabia, where he met US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson as well as Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.

The Supreme Leader set the Islamic Republic’s line on Thursday as he told Abadi to remain vigilant in the face of American plots.

He told the Prime Minister that he should be “cautious about the Americans’ deceptions, and never put trust in them”, despite the US role in the recent defeat of the Islamic State in all its major positions in Iraq, including the city of Mosul:

The Americans created Daesh [ISIS] themselves, but now that the terrorists have been defeated by the Iraqi government and people, they pretend to be supportive of this important development.

However, they will undoubtedly not hesitate to harm Iraq again if they find the opportunity.

Rouhani, who was not at the meeting between Abadi and Ayatollah Khamenei, assured the Iraqi Prime Minister in a separate discussion:

The Islamic Republic of Iran, in the path of fighting terrorism, strengthening unity and solidarity in Iraq, and preserving the territorial integrity of the country, has always been and will be alongside the Iraqi government and nation.

Rouhani emphasized Iran’s opposition to Iraqi Kurdish independence, enjoining Abadi to “keep up [the] battle against secessionist moves”, and pledged, “The Islamic Republic of Iran, with all its capabilities and power, is ready to contribute to the reconstruction and development of Iraq and stand with its government and nation.”

And Speaker of Parliament Larijani declared, in another message pointed at the US and Saudi Arabia, “The Iraqi nation’s resistance against terrorists showed to the world that Iraq is powerful and nobody can invade it.”

He implicitly responded to US Secretary of State Tillerson’s demand that “Iranian militia” — actually Iraqi Shia militias backed by Tehran — leave the country: “[The US and Israel] pursue certain objectives the most important of which is to prevent the presence and activities of the popular armed forces, because they want to damage the power of Muslims by doing this.”

Mother of Slain 2009 Protester Given 1-Year Prison Sentence

The mother of a protester killed after the disputed 2009 Presidential election has been sentenced to a year in prison for “propaganda against the establishment”.

Shahnaz Akmali has been barred from posting on social media and banned from leaving Iran.

Akmali’s son, Mostafa Karim Beigi, was among scores of demonstrators killed in mass protests after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad “won” re-election despite indications that challenger Mir Hossein Mousavi won more votes or at least enough to go to a second-round ballot.

Since Beigi’s death, Akmali has sought in vain to prosecute those responsible and has used social media to highlight human rights abuses and call for the release of political prisoners. She was detained in January and later released on bail.

Akmali has 20 days to appeal the verdict and sentence.