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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (file)
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| By Stan Goodenough September 2, 2007 |
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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is positioning his country to fill the space that will be left when the United States pulls its forces out of Iraq.
Ahmadinejad believes the situation will then be ripe for Iran to dramatically extend and entrench its influence in the Middle East.
Addressing journalists Tuesday, Ahmadinejad said the region is "witnessing the collapse of the occupiers of Iraq and we will soon have a power vacuum in that country."
Never fear, he added quickly: "In cooperation with neighboring countries, such as Saudi Arabia, we would be prepared to fill this power vacuum for the sake of aiding the Iraqi government and people."
Saudi Arabia is far from being an ally of Tehran's, and has in fact expressed its opposition to the Iranian quest for regional supremacy.
The Desert Kingdom, as it is known, is a United States' ally and the State Department has worked for decades to help keep the country "moderate" -- among other things by supplying the Saudis with multi-billions of dollars worth of the most sophisticated US-made weaponry.
While Iran's official religion is Shi'a Islam, only 10 to 15 percent of Saudis are Shi'ites. The majority adhere to Wahabism - a theological interpretation within Islam. Unlike the other Middle Eastern Muslim states, Iran is not Arab but Persian.
It is on course to becoming the number one regional superpower as it defiantly pursues a nuclear development program with its eye on acquiring an "A-Bomb for Allah."
Ahmadinejad jeered at what he believes is America's impotence to confront Iran and crush its nuclear ambitions.
"There is in no way the possibility of such an attack by the United States. Even if they take such a decision they cannot implement it [as] they have to solve the question of Iraq and Afghanistan," he said.
"Politicians do not deal with imaginary things. They deal with reality and this is propaganda. This (an attack) is not on the agenda of US officials and it cannot be."
With Iraq firmly in its orbit, Iran will be able to powerfully resist diplomatic pressure and even the threat of military action as it will work to divide western nations so dependent on Middle Eastern oil.
Already the world's second-largest oil-holder, Tehran would dramatically enhance its influence should Iraq - which has the third largest reserves of conventional oil in the world - come under its sway.
All told, the Middle East holds two-thirds of the planet's oil reserves. Whoever reigns supreme here will be an almost unassailable force.
Ahmadinejad's latest threats come three months after Jerusalem-based International Christian Zionist Center director Jan Willem van der Hoeven flew to the United States to lobby against a US withdrawal from Iraq.
If Washington pulls its troops out, Iran will rush in, Van der Hoeven warned Senators and Congressmen, both Republicans and Democrats, in their offices on Capitol Hill.
The consequences would be catastrophic for United States Middle East policies aimed at strengthening the "moderate" Muslim bloc of Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Kuwait etc, and would put Europe at the mercy of an Iranian oil boycott, the veteran Christian Zionist leader warned.
This article first appeared on the Jerusalem Newswire.
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