US Unable to Counteract Iran’s Influence in Iraq: Iranian Source

US Unable to Counteract Iran’s Influence in Iraq: Iranian Source

ERBIL — The Iranian Tabnak website, affiliated with Mohsen Razaee, the secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council and former IRGC chief, explained in an article how Iran won “the Kirkuk chess game.”

Iraq has now pushed back the Kurdish separatists and once again established the authority of the Iraq over the disputed territories, “but the main question is how this situation has come about and how long will it continue?” the source said.

The article explained that the role of the Iranian commanders and Iran’s presence in Kurdistan Region after the Iran-Iraq war.

The Kirkuk Turkmens and Arabs from the Shi'ite sect in Kirkuk, are directly linked to Iran and most of the Sunni Turkmens are politically sympathetic to the Turkmen Front of Iraq, according to the source.

“The people of the region and the leadership of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan confess that Iran has a lot of influence in this area,” the source wrote.

One of the senior Revolutionary Guards commanders who is said to have played an important role in the developments in Kirkuk is Haj Ali Eqbalpour, known as Aghai Eqbali among the people of Kirkuk.

“Many local officials are familiar with this powerful Iranian commander, but they are reluctant to talk about him,” the source said.

However, the image of this middle-aged Iranian commander with white hair and white uniform is repeatedly published on pages affiliated to Hashd al-Shaabi militia.

Nevertheless, several sources affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) have acknowledged that Eqbali is the representative of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of IRGC’s elite Quds Force.

In response to the call of the US for withdrawal of the Iranian-backed militias from Iraq, the source stressed that “Iranians will remain permanently in strategic areas like Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.”

Iran's presence in Iraq and its vigilance in dealing with various groups, including the relatively small Turkmen community in Iraq, show that Iranians have long been slowly expanding their influence in Iraq, and the person who is walking in the Washington parks has no capability of counteracting Iran’s influence in Iraq, the source added.

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