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Is Iran behind Basra chaos?
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Is Iran behind Basra chaos?
In a recent intelligence report, Western analysts suggested that while international attention is focused on Iranian nuclear ambitions, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is covertly destablising southern Iraq. If so, the primary objective is to undermine British control in Basra.
Western intelligence agencies have long claimed that the IRGC is providing support for the al-Mahdi Army headed by militant cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. Tehran is also actively aiding the Badr Corps of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. These are the principal militias of the Shia communities in the south of the country and are now among the most powerful private armies in Iraq.
Analysts warn that possible Iranian goals include preventing the formation of a pro-Arab, pro-US secular administration in Baghdad, as well as forcing foreign forces to withdraw from what is in danger of becoming a full-scale civil war in Iraq.
A longer-term aim could include establishing a secure strategic Iranian-controlled land route linking Iran to Syria, a development that would bolster Iran's support of the Palestinian Hamas government, as well as Hizbullah, Tehran's Shia proxy in Lebanon.
It requires little imagination to identify the motives behind Tehran's regional strategy. The first objective is to continue to undermine international efforts to stabilise Iraq, the second to create a so-called 'Hizbullahland' in south Lebanon.
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