Khamenei says Iran strongly opposes U.S. intervention in Iraq

Iran's top leader rejected possible intervention in Iraq by the United States or other outside powers, accusing Washington on Sunday of trying to manipulate Iraqi sectarian differences to retake control of the country it once occupied.

In remarks published by the official IRNA news agency, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei added that Iraqis themselves could end violence in their country, where Iran has steadily built up its own influence over the past decade.

Another senior figure, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, said Tehran did not want to meddle in other nations but also hoped to mediate to "extinguish the fire" in Iraq.
Khamenei, who has the last word in all matters in Shi'te Muslim Iran, said: "American authorities are trying to portray this as a sectarian war, but what is happening in Iraq is not a war between Shi'ite and Sunnis."

"It is indeed the same old hegemonic order using leftovers of the Saddam (Hussein) regime as its key pieces, and the Takfiri dogmatic elements as foot soldiers," he told judiciary officials, using a term referring to Sunni Islamist militants.

Masked jihadists of the militant Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have captured swathes of northern Iraq this month, aiming to create an Islamic Caliphate which ignores boundaries set by colonial powers a century ago........................http://www.todayonline.com/world/khamenei-says-iran-strongly-opposes-us-intervention-iraq?singlepage=true
22/6/14
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Related:

• Saudi Arabia says rejects foreign intervention in Iraq

• Military Aid to Iraq Must Receive UN Approval (Russian Foreign Ministry)

• Obama to take several days to consider how to act on Iraq

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• Hollande asks Turkey to "prevent" French citizens from joining jihadist fighters

• Cameron: British fighters in Iraq pose threat to UK (patient and intelligent with the interventions)