Iraq: Walking a tightrope

Just a few hours after appearing to distance Iraq from the US accusations of Iranian meddling in his country, the Iraqi government spokesman Ali Al-Dabbagh announced late Sunday in a press briefing arranged by the American Embassy in Baghdad that Prime Minister Nuri Al- Maliki decided to form a high-level panel of defence and security officials to compile the evidence of such interference which will then be presented to Tehran.

There is "a concrete evidence" that the Iranians "have interfered in Iraqi affairs," Al- Dabbagh said in that press briefing marking the strongest declaration yet by a top Iraqi official regarding Tehran's alleged role of funding, arming and training Shia militias to attack US troops and Iraqi government forces.

Al-Dabbagh was speaking a day after a delegation from Iraq's ruling Shia alliance returned from Tehran after presenting Iranian officials with evidence of the Islamic Republic's backing of Shia militias in Iraq. Earlier on that same day, Al-Dabbagh had said Iraq would not be pulled into conflict with Iran, adding that Iranian officials who met that delegation had denied any interference in Iraq.

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