Arrest focuses on Iran role in Iraq as row on war dead sparked

By: Nabil Raza

LONDON: The arrest of two Iranians suspected of attempting to carry out a vehicle bombing in Iraq on Monday focused new attention on how Tehran is trying to protect its interests in Iraq as Islamic republic’s plan to bury the remains of some of its war dead in its embassy in one of London's most swanky neighborhoods has sparked yet another row with Britain.

Associated Press reported that so far, Iran is believed to have used money, not guns, to influence Iraq — particularly by spreading wealth among Shiite political factions.

Monday's arrests came on the heels of comments by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari saying some neighboring countries were financing and training terrorists in Iraq, apparently referring to Iran and Syria.

The announcement of the arrests by the Iraqi Interior Ministry was a rare instance tying Iranians to a particular attack.

But there was no indication that the two men — who the ministry said were caught trying to detonate a car bomb in an eastern Baghdad neighborhood Monday — were Iranian government agents.

Iraqis in the southern holy cities have expressed suspicions that offices set up by Iranians ostensibly dispensing charity or providing assistance to Shiite pilgrims might be covers for Iranian government agents.

Britain said it had received no request from Tehran to bury "unknown martyrs" from the Iran-Iraq war in the back of the Iranian embassy in a swish part of London.

Iran's Sacred Defense Preservation Foundation, which guards the memory of soldiers who died in the 1980-88 conflict, told AFP in Tehran that it was trying to send a number of fallen soldiers for burial at the Islamic republic's mission in South Kensington.

Daoud Ghiasirad, head of public relations for the foundation, added that “the British have refused”, even though Britain has war dead from both World War I and World War II buried at its embassy in the Iranian capital.

The Iranian embassy in London is situated at 16 Prince's Gate, a stone's throw from such landmarks and tourist attractions as Hyde Park, the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal College of Music.

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