From Ayatollah to Rouhani: The stages of Iranian control over Iraqi situation

Mohammed Abdul Ghaffar

The events of 1979 were a watershed in the history of Iran, which transformed from a country with balanced and good regional relations to another seeking to intervene, control and dominate its surroundings, to spread the ideas of its Islamic revolution and spread its beliefs.

Iranian interference did not stop at the borders of a particular country, but it spread to the entire regional environment, until the arms and militias of the mullahs’ regime spread in several Arab countries, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthi in Yemen, and the popular crowd in Iraq.

The latter had the lion’s share of Iranian interference in its internal affairs, as the oldest Iranian-Iraqi relations are tense in history and the two countries interacted with each other through a common heritage that included a war that left behind a mixture of hatred, contradiction of identity, and ideological crises.

The US occupation of Baghdad was a catalyst for Iran in interfering in Iraqi affairs, so the question was, how has Iraq been affected by Iranian foreign policy during the past two decades?

Iranian foreign policy

Since its founding, the Iranian Islamic Revolution focused on influencing its geographical environment, placing it among its highest goals, and placing it in the constitution, based on a doctrinal and civilizational concept.

Iranian foreign policy relied on achieving several goals, foremost among which are ideological aspects, represented in spreading principles and ideas and exporting the revolution to the countries of the region, with the aim of forming a stable base for these ideas in the regional environment.

This step was a starting point for achieving a greater and more important goal for the mullahs’ regime, represented by the establishment of an Islamic republic in the region, which is being followed in an ideological and political fashion.

Tehran considered that this matter preserves its national security, and gives it the ability to be a state with an audible word in its region, and Ayatollah Khomeini (leader of the 1979 revolution that toppled Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi), upon his coming to power, saw the best way in which he could maintain his regime is to export the revolution abroad, and not to focus on reforming internal affairs.

Iranian policy also focused on raising the slogan of non-alignment, as it refused to join any of the eastern or western camps, and Tehran wanted through this to emphasize its status and regional strength, which was confirmed by Articles 152, 153, and 154 of its constitution, as it focused.

Attempts to control Iraq

The Iraqi-Iranian relationship went through several stages, during which Tehran focused on extending and controlling Baghdad, and this can be divided into several stages. In the phase of President Mohammad Khatami, who assumed power from 1997 to 2005, he tried to follow the position of positive neutrality in the American war on Iraq, meaning that he did not actually fight alongside the United States of America, but did not obstruct its operations.

Despite Tehran’s stated position that condemned the war and demanded that it not happen, in reality it was aimed at ending the Ba’ath Party’s control of the reins of power in Iraq, but what worried it was that American forces would encircle it from two sides, whether in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Also, forces affiliated with the Badr militia of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards tried to take advantage of the chaos resulting from the American occupation, as Tehran’s plan focused on controlling the north, center, and south, by owning land and real estate, and succeeded in doing so, and forming a network of rebels led by an agent called Mustafa Shaibani.

Iranian foreign policy during that period focused on recognizing the transitional government in Iraq, although it is a government that results from an occupying power, but this did not prevent Tehran from dealing with it, and with the transitional governing council that preceded it, with the aim of finding a foothold for itself.

Tehran has also worked to consolidate its relationship with the Supreme Shi’a religious references in Iraq, with the aim of preventing the establishment of a secular state, and pushing for a state with religious authority in line with Iranian goals.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry took the initiative to hold the largest joint economic conference between Iraqi ministers and large merchants in Tehran, and a number of 400 officials reached it, which was considered a real beginning of Iranian interference in the internal affairs of Iraq.

In January 2004, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Kamal Kharazi, made an official visit to Damascus, and the Turkish delegation attended the meeting, with the aim of coordinating the internal Iraqi situation, and the meeting came out with recommendations, the most important of which is preventing the establishment of a Kurdish entity in Iraq.

In December of the same year, Tehran hosted a meeting of interior ministers of Iraq and neighboring countries, with the aim of discussing mechanisms to maintain national security.

Kharazi stated that his country was ready to strengthen its forces stationed on the border, and condemned all violence in Iraq, which helps to prolong the presence of foreign forces.

Iran also trained more than a hundred Shiite clerics in the city of Qom, south of the capital, Tehran, and then worked to send them back to Iraq, in preparation for the establishment of a Shiite government, since 2003.

It also focused on supporting Shiite parties, some of which originated in Tehran, such as the Islamic Dawa Party, which was evident in the 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2010 elections, and the goal was for Iraq to be weak and a place to settle scores with the United States of America.

Ahmadinejad continues reform plan

Former Iranian President Ahmadinejad, 2005-2013, continued to achieve the first goals of the Iranian revolution, by clashing clearly with the outside world, fearing an intense American presence in the surrounding areas.

Therefore, Ahmadinejad took a clear interest in the nuclear file, and considered it a fundamental issue in the Iranian situation, which contributed to igniting the situation between him and Washington in a significant way.

The Iraqi issue was among the priorities of Ahmadinejad who completed what his predecessor, Muhammad Khatami, had completed, and both of them belonged to the reformist movement in Iran.

Despite Ahmadinejad’s desire to open up to Arab countries, Iraq had a special status, especially with the instability of the security situation with it during the period of Prime Minister Nuri Maliki 2006-2013.

Ahmadinejad helped a lot with the presence of a government with a Shiite background headed by Maliki, who worked sectarianly during his rule of the country, at the instigation of the Iranian regime, which contributed to the expulsion of 511 politicians, and finding what was known as the “Accountability and Justice Authority against Sunni candidates”, administered by Ahmed Chalabi and Ali al-Lami, both of whom are known for his close relationship with Tehran.

It turns out that Ahmadinejad focused on reaping the fruits of the sectarian situation cultivated by former President Khatami, so he tried to change the destination of Iraq to a Shiite religious destination, allowing Iran to exist within it through a religious force.

Ahmadinejad worked to exploit the Iraqi economy, by signing multiple agreements with former Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (2005-2014), which was expressed by Ahmadinejad.

Rouhani on the path

The matter did not differ during the reign of the next Iranian President, Hassan Rouhani (August 2013), who did not change the way Tehran handled the Iraqi file once and for all, but made matters worse, by Iran’s clear and public support for terrorist militias trying to control the reins of security in Iraq such as Asaib Ahl al-Haqq, the PMF militia and others.

Rouhani also left the Iraqi file in the hands of the Revolutionary Guards and the office of the Supreme Leader in absolute terms, especially General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, who is the de facto ruler of Iraq, and in control of matters in it.

That is, it added a clear military dimension that was officially recognized, along with the political dimension, which is represented in the Islamic Dawa Party’s control of government leadership for two consecutive sessions 2005 and 2010.