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Saturday, 15 January 2005 |
 UPI: A senior Iraqi official Saturday accused Iran of channeling money into Iraq to "achieve sectarian objectives" and destabilize the country. Waset Gov. Mohammad Ridha said $18,987.30 in Iranian tomans were seized and found to have been sent to a resident in the province "to try to entice sectarian extremism and ruin the elections process." |
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Saturday, 15 January 2005 |
 Iran Focus: Baghdad, Jan. 15 – A member of Iraq's interim parliament speaking on national television strongly criticized the Iranian regime for its meddling in Iraq. Hossein Sadr, a candidate from the election list of the current interim-Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, aired his comments on the Al-Iraqi network Thursday, saying that Iran should not be allowed to meddle in Iraq's internal affairs. |
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Tuesday, 11 January 2005 |
 AFP: About 120,000 Iraqis living in neighboring Iran can participate in landmark national elections this month, UN officials said Tuesday, but the main Iraqi Shiite party criticized restrictions imposed on voters. About 70 voting stations will be set up in six large cities including Tehran, poll organizer Kate Pryce told a press conference, with registration scheduled for January 17 to 23 and voting from January 28 to 30. |
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Tuesday, 11 January 2005 |
 Iran Focus: Baghdad, Jan. 11 - Twelve Iranians were arrested by Iraqi police yesterday in the city of al-Kut, south of Baghdad. The individuals who crossed the Iran-Iraq border travelled without valid visas.
Iraqi authorities had demanded in recent weeks that Tehran shut down illegal crossings between the 1500km border.
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Monday, 10 January 2005 |
 Los Angeles Times: As Iraq lurches toward elections this month, its neighbor Iran is emerging as one of the hottest campaign issues. Iraq's outspoken defense minister fired one of the first salvos last month, charging that the front-running slate, the Shiite Muslim-dominated United Iraqi Alliance, was controlled by Tehran and was determined to "build an Islamic dictatorship and have turbaned clerics rule in Iraq." The minister, Hazem Shaalan, is a Shiite, but is running on a rival, more secular slate. |
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Saturday, 08 January 2005 |
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AP: A militant leader suspected of involvement in beheadings and bloody attacks in Iraq confessed to Iraqi authorities his group's links with Iran and Syria, according to footage aired by the US-based and funded Alhurra television. |
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Friday, 07 January 2005 |
 Iran Focus: Tehran, Jan. 07 - Iran announced there are at least half a million Iraqis presently in the country eligible to vote in
the upcoming January 30th election in Iraq. “More than 500,000 Iraqis residing in Iran can take part in (Iraq’s) January elections”, Ahmad Hosseini, the head of Foreign Citizens
Office of the Interior Ministry, said on Wednesday. |
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Thursday, 06 January 2005 |
 AFP: Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari urged Iran and other neighbouring countries Thursday to refrain from interfering in his country's elections, as representatives met on this month's landmark vote. "The message we're going to give them in this meeting is to refrain from any interference ... that would affect the outcome of this election," Zebari told reporters in Amman. |
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Thursday, 06 January 2005 |
 Iran Focus: Baghdad, Jan. 06 - Iraq’s Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan scolded Iran on the eve of the meeting by the Foreign Ministers of Iraq’s neighbouring countries in Amman and said that over a million Iranians had entered the country to pose as Iraqis in the upcoming January 30th elections. In an interview with the Kuwaiti daily Al-Qabas yesterday, Shaalan repeated his previous assertions and accused the Iranian regime of, “interfering (in Iraq) with money, guns, and intelligence”. |
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Thursday, 06 January 2005 |
 AFP: Jordan's King Abdullah II said in comments published here Thursday that his declarations about a Shiite "crescent" were "blown out of proportion" by certain quarters in Iran.
"My statements on the Shiite crescent were blown out of proportion by some in Iran and interpreted to the contrary of my intentions," said the monarch in an interview with Al-Rai Al-Aam newspaper. |
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Wednesday, 05 January 2005 |
 AFP: Iraqi Defence Minister Hazem al-Shaalan took a fresh swipe at Iran, accusing it of being mainly responsible for the deteriorating situation in Iraq, in statements published here Wednesday.
"We have a strong belief that Iran is the main accused in the deterioration of the security situation in Iraq, such as illegal entry, smuggling of arms and means of sabotage," he told Emirati newspaper Al-Bayan.
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Tuesday, 04 January 2005 |
 Iran Focus: Cairo, Jan. 04 – Iraq’s Defence Minister Hazem Shaalan rejected the idea of direct dialogue with Iran yesterday, saying that Iran had no interest in dialogue and only sought to destabilise Iraq. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with the Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu Al-Gaith, Shaalan also hinted that Iraq should postpone its January 30th general election if Sunni groups who have threatened to boycott the election were willing to participate in one set for a later date. |
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Sunday, 02 January 2005 |
 Iran Focus: Baghdad, Jan. 02 – Iranian agents are systematically kidnapping Iraqis for ransom in the southern Iraqi province of Missan, local residents say. “Iranian terrorist agents kidnap Iraqis on the Ozeys route and take them to Iran, demanding large ransoms for their return”, a local Iraqi said.
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Saturday, 01 January 2005 |
 Iran Focus: Baghdad, Jan. 01 – Iraq’s Defence Minister,
Hazem Shaalan, accused Iran today of attempting to “create a Safavian-style Shiite Crescent stretching from Iran all the
way to Syria and Lebanon, engulfing Iraq and bringing about corruption in the country”.
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Friday, 31 December 2004 |
 Iran Focus: Baghdad, Dec. 31 - The Iraqi interim-Prime Minister, Ayad Allawi, speaking on Iraqi TV today echoed comments made yesterday by Iraq’s Defence Minister, about Iranian and Syrian meddling in Iraq. “There are countries which host those who are involved in activities that are harmful to the people of Iraq”, he said. |
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Friday, 31 December 2004 |
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Iran Focus: Baghdad, Dec. 31 – The Iraqi Defence Minister announced yesterday that he has fresh information on Iranian and Syrian meddling in Iraq. “I have important information regarding the interference into Iraq by these two countries”, Hazem Shaalan said. Speaking on Al-Arabia satellite TV channel, Shaalan stated, “The Iraqi people will soon see footage of the confessions of one of the perpetrators who has information about the meddling of these two countries in Iraq”. |
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Wednesday, 29 December 2004 |
 Iran Focus: Baghdad, Dec. 29 - The police chief in Najaf said that the commander of three terrorists arrested on Sunday in connection with a car bomb that exploded in the holy city, had extensive connections to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). He said that intelligence for when and where
to attack was given by an MOIS agent to the terrorist cells. |
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Monday, 27 December 2004 |
 AFP: Iraq will tell its neighbours to "stop meddling" in its affairs when they meet in Amman next month, interim Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said in an interview with Chinese state media Monday. "We will definitely raise the issue and tell the world to stop meddling," the foreign minister told Xinhua news agency after a four-trip visit to China. |
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Friday, 24 December 2004 |
Iran Focus: Baghdad, Dec. 24 - The Iraqi Defence Minister stated that Iraq would soon display footage of Iranian
meddling throughout the country. Hazem Shaalan said that Iraqi security forces were able to obtain foreign satellite
footage of 50 suicide vehicles entering the country from Iran. |
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Wednesday, 22 December 2004 |
 UPI: Iran closed its border with Iraq Wednesday and banned its citizens from traveling to the war-torn country where the Shiites'
holiest shrines are.
The Iranian News Agency, IRNA, quoted an official statement as saying the border closure and the travel ban were dictated by the deteriorating security situation in Iraq. |
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Tuesday, 21 December 2004 |
 Daily Telegraph: Iraqi officials fear that the big winner from next month's historic election will be its powerful neighbour and former enemy, Iran. The countries share a 1,000-mile border, stretching from the flat desert wastes and marshes of the
south to the stark mountains of the north.
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Monday, 20 December 2004 |
 AFP: President George W. Bush on Monday cautioned Iran and Syria not to interfere in Iraq's internal politics, saying the United States had a variety of ways to retaliate if the two countries failed to heed his warning. The message is the second within
a week from the US president to Tehran and Damascus to refrain from "meddling" in Iraq. |
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Monday, 20 December 2004 |
 AFP: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused American and Israeli intelligence services of being behind the weekend's attacks in Najaf and Karbala which left 66 dead, state television reported on Monday. "I am certain that American and Israeli intelligence services are behind these events and that it is a plot aimed at distracting the Iraqis so that they miss the election." Khamenei said.
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Sunday, 19 December 2004 |
The Sunday Times: An alliance of religious parties that want to turn Iraq into an Islamic state is facing a growing challenge in the country’s election and is accused of having secret links
with Iran. As campaigning was launched last week, a coalition of leading Shi’ite parties called the United Iraqi Alliance began as firm favourites for the poll on January 30. |
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Sunday, 19 December 2004 |
AP: Iraqi police detained 45 men who illegally entered the country from neighboring Iran, and American troops said Sunday they captured eight Iraqis fleeing the scene of a roadside bombing. Also, insurgents claiming to represent
three Iraqi militant groups issued a videotape saying
they had abducted 10 Iraqis working for an American security and reconstruction company. |
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Saturday, 18 December 2004 |
 REUTERS: A leading hardline cleric in Shi'ite Muslim Iran warned on Friday of possible vote-rigging in next month's Iraqi elections in the latest of a series of barbed exchanges
between the two neighbours. Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, speaking after U.S. President George W. Bush this week told Iran and Syria not to meddle in the forthcoming Iraqi vote, proposed that Iraqi clerics should supervise the Jan. 30 vote
to ensure it is fair. |
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Thursday, 16 December 2004 |
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The Scotsman: Iraq's national election campaign kicked off yesterday with angry accusations that Iran was masterminding the continuing insurgency in an effort to undermine democracy and bring about clerical rule. The Iraqi interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, had earlier declared his candidacy in conciliatory fashion, saying he would work to unify the country and bring an end to the multinational occupation. |
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Wednesday, 15 December 2004 |
 New York Times: On a list of 228 candidates submitted by a powerful Shiite-led political alliance to Iraq's electoral commission last week, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim's name was entered as No. 1. It was the clearest indication yet that in the Jan. 30 election, with Iraq's Shiite majority likely to heavily outnumber Sunni voters, Mr. Hakim may emerge as the country's most powerful political figure. |
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Wednesday, 15 December 2004 |
 AFP: US President George W. Bush warned Iran and Syria Wednesday against "meddling" in Iraq after that country's defense minister accused them of helping insurgents and terrorists spread deadly chaos. "We will continue to make it clear, to both Syria and Iran, that -- as will other nations in our coalition, including our friends the Italians -- that meddling ... |
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Wednesday, 15 December 2004 |
AP: Iraq's defense minister on Wednesday accused neighboring Iran and Syria of supporting terrorists in his war-ravaged country. Hazem Shaalan also accused Iran of backing the al-Qaida in Iraq terrorist group headed by Jordanian
militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and said his country's opponents want ''turbaned clerics to rule in Iraq.'' |
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