US and Iranian view on the US-Iraq military agreement
Iraq-Iran-USA, Politics, 10/28/2008

US Department Of State Deputy Spokesman Robert Wood said todat that the US has not yet received back the official approval from the Iraqi government regarding the formal agreement being negotiated regarding US military presence in Iraq.

"If the Iraqis have some concerns about the text, they can certainly compile those recommendations and forward them on to us officially. That has not yet happened. There are lots of voices in Iraq. You know, that have problems with various aspects of the agreement. That’s understandable; Iraq’s a democracy. But until the Iraqi Government compiles these concerns into a – you know, on a piece of paper and forwards it to us officially, I can’t really respond."

He added "we have discussions with Iraqis on a wide range of things with regard to our relationship. The SOFA is an important one. There’s no question about it. We’ve had discussions with them and continue to have discussions. But there are a wide variety of voices out there. And what we need to find out is exactly what it is that concerns the Iraqis about the text. And they need to forward to that – forward them to us officially, and then we will respond."

He added " never talk about, you know, deadlines on anything. But we obviously have a December 31 deadline by which we need to reach an agreement, otherwise we will not have a legal basis in which to operate in Iraq... it’s going to really be up to the Iraqis. They need to do – they need to give to us any concerns that they have on paper, and then we will respond. I can’t tell you by when. That’s going to be up to the Iraqis. They need to agree on what it is – what their concerns are about the task."

Also, he noted spoke of the visit of Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government President Barzani in the US to meet with Secretary Of State Condoleeza Rice saying "they’re going to talk about the U.S.-Iraqi relationship, various aspects of it. I assume that the issue of the SOFA and the Strategic Framework Agreement will come up. But, you know, we have meetings with Iraqis quite regularly, so I don’t expect anything other than that."
Iran's Majlis (parliament) speaker Ali Larijani said on Sunday that the US security agreement with Iraq is an example of American capitulation.

The plan is proposed by the US to provide a legal basis for the presence of troops in Iraq after the United Nations mandate expires at the end of the current Christian year.

He made the remarks in his address to Majlis on the occasion of the anniversary of enforcing US capitulation in 1964 which provided the American military personnel with diplomatic immunity.

Larijani said that signing of the "disgraceful" law indicated the climax of dependence of the dictatorship of Iran's defunct Shah (Mohammad Reza Pahlavi) to US.

"The American officials are trying to completely ignore human rights to legitimize their dominance ruthlessly on the pretext of signing an agreement," said the speaker.

Referring to Tehran's position on the US security deal with Iraq, Larijani reiterated, "Iran wants nothing but establishment of true democracy and security in Iraq. And US should make its stand clear on these two issues."

The US-Iraq security deal known as the Status of the Forces Agreement (SOFA) was recently handed over to the Iraqi government for final confirmation.

Previous Stories:
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  Iraq welcomes Iran-Iraq security understanding   (6/16/2008)
  Iran supports peace in Iraq: envoy   (5/21/2008)
  Mottaki: Iran not insisting on talk with the US on Iraq   (3/18/2008)
  Iraq urges resumption of Iran-US talks on Iraq   (3/5/2008)

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