Iran has revealed its ambitions for the reconstruction of Iraq, asking its subsidiaries to take priority in the projects. This came when Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarif called for giving Iranian companies priority in the reconstruction of Iraq after the end of the battles against the state organization. Zarif said during his visit to Karbala city and met with leaders of the popular factions pro Iran. “The world has realized the fact that the United States was not the victorious over ISIS, but you are the one who defeated ISIS, so they are exerting all the pressure on you and us,” Zarif said in Persian, using the abbreviated name of the Islamic State Organization.
Zarif called for giving priority to Iranian companies in the reconstruction of Iraq due to the support provided by Iran and the logistical complexities of cooperation with Western companies. Zarif added “If a European or American company decides to come to Iraq for work and reconstruction, the cost of that company to protect its workers and its cadres in Iraq is more than it intends to spend for reconstruction and building.”The Iranian Foreign Minister went on saying,” But when an Iranian company decided to be in Iraq to implement projects, as well as the lack of costs and not need to spend on the protection of its workers, it comes because it love of Imam Hussein and brothers who came to Iraq and stood by the popular crowd. ”
The leader of the popular crowd Abu Ammar al-Jubouri expressed the gratitude of the factions to Iran. The leader said that “Iran is the only country that stood by Iraq.”The main reason for Iraq’s steadfastness in the face of terrorism is Iran’s position on our side,” he said. “We were able to stand up and respond to this attack by America and Israel. All refuse the US coming to Iraq. “Observers believe that Iranian companies are bad reputation, and their projects are incomplete, delayed and usually corrupt and citizens are complaining about it because they are affected by projects supervised or implemented by Iranian companies.
But Iran, which was “very interested” in the reconstruction of Iraq, drew the attention of those present at the Iraq Reconstruction Conference held in Kuwait last February, where Its foreign minister, Jawad Zarif, declined to declare any commitment to help Iraq , this contradicts with the successive Iranian statements about helping Baghdad. Several countries, including Arab and Gulf countries and financial, economic and social institutions committed to allocate about 30 billion dollars to support the advancement of Iraq in the reconstruction conference. The Conference of the reconstruction of Iraq witnessed the participation of representatives of States and institutions and international bodies, including the United Nations.
The biggest absentee, according to observers, was Iran and its foreign minister Zarif, who attended but did not make any financial contribution to the reconstruction of Iraq. Zarif, who attended the meeting and met with a number of officials on its margins, was absent from the collective picture. Iran has only made, represented by Zarif and a number of officials, vague statements about helping Iraq through companies operating on its territory in different sectors. Tehran has repeatedly been said to have helped Iraq to defeat terrorism.
The important question here is: who should rebuild Iraq exactly? Who is responsible for repairing the terrible devastation Iraq has witnessed in the past years? The immediate answer here is: Three countries in particular must bear this responsibility – America, Britain and Iran. The reason for this is that these countries are the ones that destroyed Iraq and inflicted all the devastation it has suffered. The United States bears the greatest responsibility. It destroyed Iraq by invading and occupying it, and the invasion was accompanied by horrific crimes that affected everything and destroyed everything. Washington deliberately destroyed the basic structure of Iraq, and destroyed the economy and looted the wealth. The United States is responsible for Iraq’s total terrorism, its associated war in which entire Iraqi cities were destroyed, and the displacement of millions of Iraqis. Britain bears the same responsibility; it was an essential partner of America in the invasion and occupation, and in all the crimes committed. Iran has completed the process of American destruction of Iraq. Iran has plunged Iraq into sectarianism and conflict and has made it impossible for the country to recover. Iran bears the greatest responsibility for the terrible corruption of its agents in Iraq who have ruled the country and drained the remaining wealth and looted it. It is therefore logical and natural that these three countries should be responsible for the reconstruction of Iraq.
But what happened was that America openly and clearly stated that it had no intention to contribute by any money at all in the Kuwait Reconstruction Conference. Not only that, but US officials have boldly declared that all they will do is to encourage Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states to provide reconstruction grants to Iraq. Iran is spending money only on its terrorist groups and t forces in Iraq and other Arab countries, the forces that carry out the scheme of destruction and damage. Iran is waiting to take from Iraq and not give it anything. These countries want Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Arab states to take over rebuilding what they destroyed and damaged. Those countries want the Gulf States to address the effects they have done including war crimes, genocide and destruction of Iraq and its people. This can not be acceptable.
Iran is seeking to bite the process of reconstruction of Iraq to ease the impact of US sanctions on it. The observers of the Iraqi-Iranian relations confirm that Iraq is the most important vent to Iran to ease the US embargo because of its proximity to it and the presence of many allies and friends who control the power and the economic market, providing great potential to circumvent US sanctions and the continued flow of the dollar to Iran through traditional mechanisms and methods such as active participation in the reconstruction and non-traditional , which the United States can not detect or control, but ultimately at the expense of exposing Iraqi economy to serious damage. And if Iran was able to acquire the reconstruction projects , this would confirm its almost absolute influence in Iraq, or so the wills of the policy of regional and international balances exercised on the ground in Iraq.
Iraqi Studies Unit
Rawabet for Research and Strategic Studies