Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki met with leaders of Iran on Monday, a move his top political rival characterized as potentially destabilizing the region and undermining efforts to keep Iraq independent.
Iraq’s political parties are still struggling to form a stable government eight months after parliamentary elections. Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has pushed to form a more secular government, while al-Maliki leads a coalition of powerful Shiite parties backed by Iran.
Tehran has urged Iraq to move quickly to expel the vestiges of U.S. power in the country, blaming America for a lack of security in Baghdad.
“Despite relative stability in Iraq, the country is still suffering from insecurity and part of this insecurity is resulted from the pressures that are exerted by some powers whose political interests lie in creating insecurity in Iraq,” said Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Allawi accused Iran of working to destabilize the Middle East. “We know that, unfortunately, Iran is trying to wreak havoc on the region, and trying to destabilize the region by destabilizing Iraq, and destabilizing Lebanon and destabilizing the Palestinian issue,” Allawi told CNN.
