Iranian parliament speaker slams SOFA

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: Iranian Majlis (parliament) Speaker Ali Larijani said on Monday that the US troops are not under control or supervision of Iraqi forces and they can enter and leave the country with their own ID documents, which is one of the most serious loopholes in the Baghdad-Washington security pact. “The recent security pact signed by the U.S. and Iraq would cause crisis in Iraq as well as the entire region,” Larijani said in statements carried by the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). Speaking to reporters, he said this is the legitimate rights of the Iraqi parliament to question the deal. The Iraqi cabinet last week had approved with an overwhelming majority of 27 votes to one the security deal between Iraq and the United States and was referred to Parliament for voting. SOFA should legalize the presence of U.S. forces on Iraqi territories after the end of this year, when the deadline given for a UN Security Council mandate for the U.S. army to intervene in Iraq is scheduled to expire. SOFA had drawn wide-scale local popular and political controversy after the cabinet endorsed it on last week, particularly from the Sadrist bloc of Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr. In accordance with the Iraqi constitution, SOFA cannot be effective before the parliament approves it. Larijani said that although some clauses of the U.S.-Iraq security pact have been amended but there are numerous problems which would create obstacles for the Iraqi nation as well as the Middle East region. The main weak point of US–Iraq security pact which can damage the country’s sovereignty is the issue of capitulation, he said, adding that the Americans have promised to remove Iraq from Chapter Seven of UN Charter but not date has been fixed for this. Americans have made many false promises to the Iraqi people, Larijani said. According to the U.S.-Iraq security pact, the US troops are not under control or supervision of Iraqi forces and they can enter and leave the country with their own ID documents, he said. They are even allowed to carry out their cargoes or belongings inside and outside Iraq without any permission from Iraqi authorities, he said. It is quite natural that every country should monitor and control transfer of assets into and outside its territory, Larijani pointed out. The Americans are now behaving in Iraq as an occupied country which is an unjustifiable act for the Iraqi government and nation, he said. AmR (I) 1