Iran demands immediate withdrawal of British forces from Basra, Iraq

AFP via Babelfish translation | February 17, 2006

[HAL9000]

ALARM - Iran requires the immediate withdrawal of forces GB of al Basra, in Iraq

BEIRUT - the Iranian Minister for the Foreign Affairs, Manouchehr Mottaki, in visit in Beirut, took Friday the immediate withdrawal of the British forces of al Basra, in the south of Iraq.

[HAL9000]

AFP via translation -

Iran requires the "immediate" withdrawal of the British forces of al Basra, in Iraq

BEIRUT - the Iranian Minister for the Foreign Affairs, Manouchehr Mottaki, in visit in Beirut, took Friday the "withdrawal immediate" of the British forces of al Basra, in the south of Iraq, at the time of a press conference in the Lebanese capital.

"the Islamic Republic of Iran requires the immediate withdrawal of the British forces of al Basra", declared the minister who showed the British forces "to destabilize the situation" in this area of the south of Iraq which faces in Iran.

Currently, 8.000 British soldiers are based in Iraq

[livius]

There was an article in the WSJ on Monday that said that Iran has managed to develop considerable influence in Iraq. The initial theories were that the Iranian Shiites and the Iraqi Shiites hated each other too much to be allies, but this appears not to be the case in many parts of Iraq, where Iran has invested a lot of money and has many representatives.

What has stirred them up about Basra?

[HAL9000]

Agence France Presse -

Iran FM demands British pullout from southern Iraq

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki called for the immeidate withdrawal of British troops from southern Iraq during a visit to Lebanon Friday.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran requests the immediate withdrawal of British forces from Basra," Mottaki said, referring to Iraq's main southern city where Britain's 8,000 troops are headquartered.

The British force was having a "destabilising" effect on the region, he charged.

Iranian officials have repeatedly blamed British agents based in Iraq for an outbreak of ethnic unrest in Iran's mainly Arab southeastern province of Khuzestan just across the border.

[milemark]

Iran trying to be a bully is now officially an old bit.

[Aussie Dasher]

The Iranian leadership can stick their collective heads up a dead bear's bum!

[HAL9000]

What has stirred them up about Basra?

Basra is on the Shatt al-Arab waterway, on the Iran-Iraq border. Iran would like to take over Basra in order to control the waterway.

[bkepley]

Uh..no.

[Popman]

Probably interrupting some covert Iranian operations being so close to the border with Iran

[livius]

Ah. There's method to their madness. Thanks.

[singfreedom]

No method. Just madness.

[livius]

No doubt. The WSJ article gave a pretty chilling analysis of the extent of Iran's influence, which isn't even particularly covert, in many cases. It has also been conducting a propaganda campaign to win Iraqi hearts and minds by setting up health clinics and other social services in certain areas.

[CheyennePress]

I'm sure Kim Jong-il would like to see the US military leave South Korea, as well. I'm sure his demands will be equally effective.

[Rocketman]

I strongly suspect that armor units are gathering in that general vacinity for either an invasion of Iran or a decoy and there is too much of a from for Iran to uniformally defend. -- Since they made the call for the brits to abandon the entire area. i do not feel bad about making this speculation

[HAL9000]

Iran calls on UK troops to pull out of Basra

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Iran's foreign minister called on Britain on Friday to pull its troops out of the southern Iraqi city of Basra, saying their presence was destabilizing the city.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran demands the immediate withdrawal of British forces from Basra," Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters through an interpreter during a visit to Lebanon.

"We believe that the presence of the British military forces in Basra has led to the destabilization of the security situation in the city," he said, adding that the British presence had also negatively affected the security situation in southern Iran itself.

Mottaki was apparently referring to a spate of recent bomb attacks in southern Iran. Tehran has accused the British military in Iraq of cooperating with the bombers who killed eight people in attacks in January.

The minister also denounced what he said were human rights violations by the British forces in Basra.

Iran last month accused the British military in Iraq of cooperating with bombers who attacked targets in the Iranian oil city of Ahvaz, killing eight people.

[mylife]

Basra appears to control the main route from Irans persian gulf ports into Iraq

[Fred Nerks]

Khuzestan Province of southwest Iran, on the northern shores of the Gulf; area 66,560 sq km/25,700 sq mi; population (1996 est) 3,746,800. It has Iran's chief oil resources. Cities include the administrative centre of Ahvaz and the ports of Abadan and Khorramshahr. A large proportion of the population is Arab. The province is often referred to by Arabs as Arabistan.

KHUZESTAN HAS MOST OF THE IRANIAN OIL.

[odds]

I've noticed that in the last few days, there has been an increase in the number of IR regime cronies and supporters commenting on DrZIn's weblog.

http://regimechangeiran.blogspot.com/

Their comments appear to undermine what U.S. and British forces are doing in the region. They continue to give sermons about America's involvement and accuse George Bush of starting a war. I think they are afraid America may attack Iran. They are also devaluing the State Department's support for Iranian people.

Yes, Iranian regime wants to have more and more direct control over the southern part of Iraq, especially if and in case the USA decides to take military action against Iran. I also think this is a head game, a psychological game to challenge, divert focus and confuse.

[Fred Nerks]

The majority of the pipelines lead to the refinery at Abadan.

[Beckwith]

What has stirred them up about Basra?

British soldiers pummeled some Iraqis after they were caught throwing stones at them.

The incident was filmed and the film released to the press.