U.S. 'Concerned' About Iranian Flights to Syria

Washington Times ^ | 3/18/2012 | By Kristina Wong

[U-238]

The State Department has said the U.S. and other countries are consulting with Iraq about Iranian flights of weapons to Syria after Iraq’s prime minister denied a report in The Washington Times saying Baghdad is allowing such flights.

“We are concerned about the overflight of Iraq by Iranian cargo flights headed to Syria,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Friday, adding that the U.S. and other nations want to work with Iraq to be “absolutely sure about any cargo that’s overflying its territory.”

Earlier Friday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki issued a statement saying that his government does not allow Iran to fly weapons into Syria. Baghdad is “moving forward [in] drying up the sources of violence and weapons in general and for the case of Syria in particular,” he said.

The U.S. and Iraqi statements followed a report in The Times that Washington has made several requests in recent months to Baghdad, including directly to Mr. al-Maliki, to either stop allowing Iran to use its airspace or allow the planes to be inspected in compliance with international law.

A U.S. official told The Times that Iraq's government has ignored credible intelligence that the planes are transporting up to 30 tons of weapons and has said the Iranian cargo flights were transporting only humanitarian aid.

[U-238]

Ping

[sauropod]

Baghdad is “moving forward [in] drying up the sources of violence and weapons in general and for the case of Syria in particular,” he said.

Uh-huh. Sure.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks,...now how about enforcing tthe ban....then we might believe Malicki.

[Marine_Uncle]

Looks like the deal of selling F16 and other fixed wing aircraft to Iraq did not mature fast enough. The Iraqi government is probably close to dysfunctional other then a few blurps where Sunni and Shiite can agree on matters regarding increased step up in oil and gas production and distribution channels.
The full ramifications of the Maliki lead government working with/not working with the current stooges in the White House are yet to be detailed. The grievance list is just to long to elaborate on. But room for thought. Ballad and al-Assad AFB's could be populated with US F16 and F15 at this time along with over flight early warning systems the Iraqi would pay the operational expenses on, and this would not even be an issue. Iran would have been informed through the proper channels.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Ernest.

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