TEHRAN, Nov 5: Iran on Monday said it had drawn up a plan to restore stability to Iraq, including suggestions for the expulsion of private security firms and the integration of militias into the security forces.
Foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said Iranian diplomats had proposed the plan at a weekend conference in Istanbul on Iraqi security. But this was the first time its details had been made public.
“This has been proposed by Iran as a general plan for others to comment on,” Hosseini told reporters, according to the English translation of the state-run Press-TV.
“It is a new plan that was suggested at the Istanbul meeting,” he said.
According to Hosseini, the plan emphasises the necessity for driving armed militant groups out of Iraq, and also for expelling the various private security firms working there.
“Particularly Blackwater,” said Hosseini, referring to the US firm whose guards were involved in a shooting incident September 16 in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead.
The plan also proposes the integration of some militia groups into the security forces. However there was no mention of any names such as the Mehdi Army of militant Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.
“All the militias who have not cooperated with any organised terrorist groups should be forgiven and give up their arms. The government of Iraq should make use of some of them in the military and the police,” Hosseini said.
Other proposals include a two-year suspension of efforts to find solutions to thorny problems such as oil sharing, the status of provinces and the multi-ethnic city of Kirkuk.
An amnesty for prisoners detained for “acting against the government” and the opening of embassies by all neighbouring countries should also take place.
The United States has repeatedly accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards of training Shiite militias and shipping armour-piercing bombs into Iraq for attacks on US troops.
Iran vehemently denies the allegations and says it is doing everything to ensure that security is restored to Iraq.—AFP
