BAGHDAD— Secretary of State John F. Kerry used an unannounced visit to Iraq on Sunday to lobby Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for greater scrutiny of flights the United States claims carry Iranian weapons and fighters across Iraq to Syria.
The Obama administration has been unable to persuade Iraq to block such flights or even to perform regular inspections. Iraq claims that Iranian flights over its territory carry only humanitarian supplies for the civil war in next-door Syria, and the only two known inspections of Iranian aircraft showed only those supplies.
The United States claims that the sheer volume of flights crossing Iraq points to regular arms shipments. A senior U.S. official traveling with Kerry said there are flights nearly every day. The official would not say how the United States is certain the planes are carrying weapons for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an Iranian ally, but repeatedly asserted that is the case.
“We know,” the contents, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to preview Kerry’s argument to Maliki, a prickly and often difficult leader whose recent consolidation of power worries his American backers.
"He will be very direct with Prime Minister Maliki about the importance of stopping the Iranian overflights and the transits across the territory or, at a minimum, inspecting each of the flights," the U.S. official said.
Kerry was also suggesting that Iraq can play a greater role in a post-Assad Syria if the country cooperates to reduce the arms flow to Assad now, the official said. Iraq is not part of a U.S.- and European-led group of nations backing the Syrian rebels.
Kerry will also ask Maliki, a Shiite, to reconsider a decision to postpone local elections in two Sunni-majority provinces, the official said, and to share power more equally with Sunni and Kurds.
Iraq remains badly divided along sectarian lines, with near-daily killings and terrorist attacks attributed to sectarian rivalries. The Shiite-led cabinet last week postponed the elections scheduled for April 20 for up to six months in Anbar and Nineveh provinces, citing threats to electoral workers.
Kerry was pressing Maliki to do more to appease Sunnis, who have been staging large protests for months, complaining about their political and societal marginalization. U.S. officials have been watching the protest movement with concern, fearing it has the potential to devolve into a new armed Sunni uprising.
Kerry began the session with Maliki with a joking remark that he had been assured that Maliki would “do everything that I say.” Maliki had a good-natured reply: “We won’t do it,” he said through an interpreter. Both men smiled.
Kerry’s visit comes at a low point for American influence 10 years after the U.S. invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. The Obama administration was unable to negotiate a long-term security agreement with the Maliki government, leading to the departure of all U.S. forces and most civilians.
The mammoth U.S. Embassy in downtown Baghdad, the largest and most expensive in the world, is reducing from more than 16,000 employees to about 5,000 this year. Only about 1,000 of those left will be diplomats.
The Obama administration has been unable to persuade Iraq to block such flights or even to perform regular inspections. Iraq claims that Iranian flights over its territory carry only humanitarian supplies for the civil war in next-door Syria, and the only two known inspections of Iranian aircraft showed only those supplies.
The United States claims that the sheer volume of flights crossing Iraq points to regular arms shipments. A senior U.S. official traveling with Kerry said there are flights nearly every day. The official would not say how the United States is certain the planes are carrying weapons for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, an Iranian ally, but repeatedly asserted that is the case.
“We know,” the contents, the official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to preview Kerry’s argument to Maliki, a prickly and often difficult leader whose recent consolidation of power worries his American backers.
"He will be very direct with Prime Minister Maliki about the importance of stopping the Iranian overflights and the transits across the territory or, at a minimum, inspecting each of the flights," the U.S. official said.
Kerry was also suggesting that Iraq can play a greater role in a post-Assad Syria if the country cooperates to reduce the arms flow to Assad now, the official said. Iraq is not part of a U.S.- and European-led group of nations backing the Syrian rebels.
Kerry will also ask Maliki, a Shiite, to reconsider a decision to postpone local elections in two Sunni-majority provinces, the official said, and to share power more equally with Sunni and Kurds.
Iraq remains badly divided along sectarian lines, with near-daily killings and terrorist attacks attributed to sectarian rivalries. The Shiite-led cabinet last week postponed the elections scheduled for April 20 for up to six months in Anbar and Nineveh provinces, citing threats to electoral workers.
Kerry was pressing Maliki to do more to appease Sunnis, who have been staging large protests for months, complaining about their political and societal marginalization. U.S. officials have been watching the protest movement with concern, fearing it has the potential to devolve into a new armed Sunni uprising.
Kerry began the session with Maliki with a joking remark that he had been assured that Maliki would “do everything that I say.” Maliki had a good-natured reply: “We won’t do it,” he said through an interpreter. Both men smiled.
Kerry’s visit comes at a low point for American influence 10 years after the U.S. invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein. The Obama administration was unable to negotiate a long-term security agreement with the Maliki government, leading to the departure of all U.S. forces and most civilians.
The mammoth U.S. Embassy in downtown Baghdad, the largest and most expensive in the world, is reducing from more than 16,000 employees to about 5,000 this year. Only about 1,000 of those left will be diplomats.