US embassy in Iraq, center for plotting in Mideast

An Iranian foreign policy analyst said the US embassy in Iraq was in fact a center for hatching and carrying out plots in the Middle East. Mohammad-Hassan Qadiri Abyaneh said in an exclusive interview with IRNA on Saturday that the US was unable to reach any of its objectives in Iraq despite spending huge sums of money during eight years of its military presence in Iraq. He said both Iraqi nation and parliament foiled the plot of the US permanent presence in Iraq through their resistance and forced American forces to leave Iraq. However, he added, given the hegemonic and colonialist spirit of the US administration, Washington will not let go this strategic region easily. The analyst, who has served as Iran’s ambassador to Mexico and Australia, further said that despite the superficial exit of the US forces from Iraq, the country will witness the presence of American spies and agents under the cover of the US embassy staff in Iraq. Noting that the US failed to push the Iraqi parliament into endorsing judiciary immunity for the American armed forces there, Qadiri said now the US is organizing its spies and agents as diplomats to monitor economic and political situation in the Middle East region. Stressing that no other country in the world holds a 15-thousand-strong embassy, he said this very fact indicates that the US is pursuing very particular goals in the Middle East, particularly in Iraq. The analyst underscored that the US intended to use its embassy in Iraq as an espionage base for Washington and Tel Avive to carry out terrorist acts like assassinating scientists in Muslim counties and urged the Iraqi nation to once again foil the US plots. The US has officially withdrawn its forces from Iraq but said it will retain 15,000 people in the country as its embassy staff.