Iraqi Parliament Speaker Haibet al-Halbousi signaled a dramatic shift away from Tehran’s regional orbit, declaring that Iraq will not sacrifice its Arab ties for Iran.
Iraqi Parliament Speaker Haibet al-Halbousi issued an unusually blunt statement, saying that Iraq “will not enter into tensions with our Arab surroundings because of Iran.”
He added that Iraq had made clear in Saudi Arabia that it is “an inseparable part of the Arab world and the Arab states.”
The statement is highly significant because since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq has been widely seen as a central arena of Iranian influence, with Tehran-backed Shiite militias deeply embedded in the country’s political and security systems.
