Iran Extends Hand Into Southern Iraq

Ambassadors to meet in Baghdad; nuclear program won't be on the table

(NEWSER) - The US will sit down with Iran to enlist its aid in quelling violence in Iraq as early as next week, reports the Washington Post. US ambassador Ryan Crocker will meet with his Iranian counterparts in Baghdad to encourage the country, frequently accused of sponsoring sectarian violence in neighboring Iraq, to take on a "productive role." More»

June the deadliest month in two years

(NEWSER) - June was the deadliest month in two years for US troops in Iraq, with 15 killed in various attacks—and the US thinks Iran is to blame. Military officials think Iran is handing militia groups more sophisticated weapons, like rockets, armor-piercing grenades, and improved jam-resistant roadside bombs, the Washington Post reports. More»

Maliki vows new government won't team up with Iran

(NEWSER) - US troops must stand by the plan to depart Iraq at the end of 2011, Iraq's PM tells the Wall Street Journal in a lengthy interview. Despite wide expectations that nine months of post-election turmoil would extend the US presence, “the last American soldier will leave Iraq” as scheduled, he said. “This agreement is not subject to extension, not subject to alteration. It is sealed.” The country’s own government and troops can handle lingering threats, he said. More»

It brokered the coalition between Nouri Al-Maliki, Muqtada al-Sadr

(NEWSER) - Iran was behind the recently struck deal between Nouri al-Maliki and Muqtada al-Sadr, and the result could be an Iraqi government friendly to Tehran and distanced from the West, the Guardian reports. According to the paper's sources, Syria, Hezbollah, and top Shia religious leaders were involved with a secret campaign to unite the two leaders' parties, making Maliki the frontrunner to return as prime minister. Iran pushed Sadr to embrace Maliki after the last American combat troops departed Iraq. More»

(NEWSER) - British troops called Iraqi detainees "apes," beat them so that their moans of pain sounded like an "orchestrated choir," and forced them to dance like Michael Jackson, a public inquiry into the death of one of the detainees heard yesterday. The inquiry panel was told that Baha Mousa, a hotel worker, died from 93 injuries inflicted over 36 hours in British custody during the 2003 incident, the Telegraph reports. More»