Ali Younesi, the adviser of Iranian president Hassan Rohani on religious affairs and minorities, said that Iran has returned to be the empire it was throughout history, adding Baghdad as the fourth imperial capital.
The colonialist statement he made during a conference on identity held in Tehran is strange for a high-level official.
It seems that not one of the free-world leaders heard Younesi when he said that Iraq is not only part of the cultural influence of Iran, but also of its identity; it is its capital today , and this is irreversible due to irrevocable geographical and cultural relations, so either ‘we’ coexist or fight. Younesi claimed that his country defends the peoples of the region against ‘Islamist extremism, takfirism, atheism, and the domination of neo-Ottomanism, and Wahhabism.’
Iran tells the world that it occupied an important country such as Iraq and even before the signing of the nuclear deal with the United States. Iran’s expansionist plans in the post-agreement period are portent of change in the Middle East.
It seems that the Americans no longer care about the concerns raised by the Arab allies in the Middle East, only making statements about Washington’s commitment to the security of its allies, or reassuring them when the exact opposite is happening on the ground.
No one can claim that the United States is surprised by what is happening in Iraq. Iraq was subject to US control since the military invasion in 2003. American newspapers are talking day and night about Iran occupying Iraq. Nonetheless, the US administration does not move a finger, as if they decided to take the advice of some American advisers of Iranian descent who believe that the alliance with Shiism is the best way to eliminate the danger of Sunni Islamist organizations.
Speaking about the occupation of Iraq by the Quds Force, the outer arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday that the Shiite militia is the main player in Iraq. The newspaper considered that the presence of Iranian militias in the war waged by the Iraqi army against Daesh was mainly due to the absence of any US or Arab role.
The US administration is not only to be blamed for this, the Arabs, preoccupied with internal issues, left Iraq in the hands of Iran since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Now, we and the world are facing a new reality, as Iran is swallowing regional countries one after the other. Today, Iran says it controls Iraq while regional and international powers remain silent. Tomorrow, the historical Persian empire might want to expand further.
The disintegration of the international coalition against Daesh, as pointed out by Gen. Martin Dempsey, has result from Iran’s suspicious role in it. We cannot imagine Iraq being the prize that goes to Iran for its role in this war. Will the Arabs wake up before Younesi adds another Arab country to the Persian Empire?
