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Iran slams door on Ansar
al-Islam
By Hooman Peimani
As the leader of the Kurdistan
Socialist Democratic Party, Muhammad Hagi Mahmud, whose
party controls Iraqi territory near Iran's border, revealed
on Monday, Iran refused to let wounded members of the
Ansar al-Islam enter its territory to receive medical
services last Saturday.
They were wounded after
US forces reportedly launched 100 Tomahawk missiles on
their base. Iran's denial to an Iraqi Kurdish group with
a Taliban-style extremist Islam ideology indicated its
efforts to prevent the expansion to Iran of the American
war on Iraq by denying the Americans a possible excuse
to attack Iran for helping a "terrorist" group.
Iran denied medical care to the wounded Ansar
fighters despite its setting up two field hospitals
close to the Iranian city of Marivan neighboring Iraqi
Kurdistan. The Bashmaq and Molakhor hospitals are
equipped to treat Iraqi Kurds injured in the ongoing
war. Reportedly, the Iranian authorities excluded the
Ansar members from the Kurds eligible to receive
treatment even prior to the mentioned episode. To help
the Iraqi Kurds access to the two hospitals, the Iranian
government has made arrangements with the Patriotic
Union of Kurdistan (PUK), one of the two major armed
Kurdish groups in control of Iraqi Kurdistan. Those
hospitals have reportedly provided medical services to
about 100 Kurdish civilians wounded during American air
strikes over the past few days.
The Iranian
government has repeatedly denied any link with the Ansar
al-Islam over the past few months, during which time the
American government has accused the group of cooperating
with al-Qaeda in its attempts to link Iraq to terrorist
activities. As a recent example, on Monday, Iran's
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hamid Reza Asefi dismissed
any connection between Tehran and the Ansar and denied
assisting it, as claimed in an unspecified TV report. He
evaluated the allegation as "baseless and a sheer lie"
and part of a "psychological war" against Iran. Drawing
on his government's view on the group, he described it
as "an extremist group with [a] suspicious platform".
Prior to Asefi's statements, the authorities of
Iranian Kurdistan Province had rejected allegations
regarding the transfer to Iran for treatment of wounded
Ansar members following an American missile attack on
Saturday. On the same day, the deputy head of the Iraq
crisis task force in that province, Bahram
Nasrollahizadeh, also rejected the allegations stating:
"This is a baseless rumor and no Iraqi national has been
allowed to enter Iranian territory." According to him,
"Rumors of this kind are aimed at dragging the Islamic
Republic into the Iraq[i] crisis and undermin[ing]
Iran's neutral stance" towards the American war against
Iraq.
Ansar al-Islam is a small isolated group
with a few hundred fighters based in a number of
villages in northern Iraq in an area close to PUK
territory. The American government's accusations
regarding the group's ties to al-Qaeda have qualified it
as a target in the American "war on terrorism". As is
evident in the American missile attack, the destruction
of the group is one of the objectives of the American
war plan in Iraq. The attack is a prelude to a future
joint PUK-American ground assault on the Ansar
stronghold. On Sunday, the deployment of American
helicopter gunships at an airstrip in Bakrajo near
Sulaymaniyah suggested that the assault would likely
happen in the near future.
As stated, the
Iranian government's move against Ansar was meant to
secure Tehran's neutrality in the ongoing war in
neighboring Iraq. Since its outbreak, Iran has demanded
the belligerents to respect its neutrality. Towards that
end, it has rejected Iraq's appeal for help, while
refusing to provide assistance to the American-British
forces. However, both Iraq and its self-proclaimed
"liberators" have interests in pulling Iran into the
conflict, for very different reasons. Any Iranian
involvement in the war with a weakening effect on the
invading forces would disrupt their war plans, with the
main beneficiary being the Iraqi regime of Saddam
Hussein. On the other hand, Iran's offering any type of
assistance to the American-British forces, including
opening its airspace to their aircraft and missiles en
route to Iraq, would definitely facilitate and speed up
their operation. Despite its efforts, it is not clear
how successful Iran will be in keeping itself out of the
war, especially as it drags on longer than expected.
Apart from any well-orchestrated Iraqi or
American-British plan to drag Iran into the war as an
ally, certain scenarios could potentially leave that
country with no choice but to intervene in one form or
another to defend its territory, people and interests or
those of its friends and proteges.
Repeated
violation of Iranian airspace by American and British
aircraft and/or missiles in their bid to bypass certain
Iraqi areas or to catch the Iraqis off guard could be
one scenario. Iran has so far protested over at least
four such violations.
Turkey's deployment of a
large military force in Iraqi Kurdistan to achieve
certain objectives endangering Iran's interests and
security, including domination over oil-rich Mosual and
Kirkuk, could be another scenario in which Tehran would
be tempted to shed its neutrality.
Attempts by
the British-American forces and/or the Turkish troops to
suppress the Iraqi Shi'ites, to deny them a fair share
in a post-war Iraqi regime or to marginalize and disarm
their pro-Iranian political parties could be yet another
scenario. Similarly, joint or separate efforts on their
part to dominate Iraqi Kurdistan and to turn it into an
anti-Iranian territory or to disband and disarm its two
main groups with friendly ties with Iran, the PUK and
the Democratic Party of Kurdistan (DPK), would be
another feasible scenario.
Finally, given the
hostile American-Iranian relations, Iran could be
dragged into the war, nilly willy, if American-British
forces attack Iran in their pursuit of fleeing Iraqi
military or Ansar fighters. An American attack on that
country to settle old problems under the pretext of
punishing it for its alleged assistance of Ansar
fighters would likely have the same effect.
Tehran's declared neutrality and certain
measures it has taken, including the sealing its borders
with Iraq, its refusal to shelter the Ansar al-Islam in
its territory and its showing restraint in reaction to
repeated violations of its airspace, have so far helped
Iran stay out of the war. However, as the war unravels,
the rapidly changing environment may cause any one of
the aforementioned scenarios to emerge. At that time,
Iran may find it very difficult to maneuver itself out
of a dangerous situation without becoming involved in an
unwanted military confrontation of an unpredictable
scale and scope.
Dr Hooman Peimani
works as an independent consultant with international
organizations in Geneva and does research in
international relations.
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