WASHINGTON — The Iranian government has decided “at the most senior levels” to rein in the violent Shiite militias it supports in Iraq, a move reflected in a sharp decrease in sophisticated roadside bomb attacks over the past several months, according to the State Department’s top official on Iraq.
Tehran’s decision does not necessarily mean the flow of those weapons from Iran has stopped, but the decline in their use and in overall attacks “has to be attributed to an Iranian policy decision,” David Satterfield, Iraq coordinator and senior adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said in an interview.
U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker said the decision, “should (Tehran) choose to corroborate it in a direct fashion,” would be “a good beginning” for a fourth round of talks between Crocker and his Iranian counterpart in Baghdad. Although the mid-December date scheduled for the talks was postponed, Crocker said he expects the parties will convene “in the next couple of weeks.”
The Pentagon has been more cautious in describing Iran’s role in changes in Iraq. And the Bush administration has said that Iran maintains a widespread intelligence network in Iraq, with blurred lines between political operatives and those with direct involvement in militia violence.
Rather than lessening its influence in Iraq, the official said, Iran has opted for “a creative shift in tactics” as violent militia action — some of it directed against Shiites — has turned many Iraqis against them.
Satterfield agreed that Iran was not acting out of “altruism” but rather from “alarm at what was being done by the groups they were backing in terms of their own long-term interests.”
