IRAN ASKS IRAQ TO ALLOW MORE IRANIAN PILGRIMS

Juan Cole in his Informed Comment points to a story in Reuters that Iran is seeking permission from Iraq for two or three million Iranian pilgrims to visit the holy Shiite shrines in Iraq. Currently Iraq allows up to 500,000 Iranian pilgrims.

"Iran is pressing Iraq to increase six-fold the number of Shi'ite pilgrims from Iran allowed to visit Iraq's holy sites, a move that could deepen ties between historical foes, the government said on Thursday. . . . "

"There was no immediate indication whether Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-dominated government would accept the proposal. Maliki's government has taken tentative steps in recent years to strengthen its ties with Iran.

"Washington accuses Iran of arming, training and funding Shi'ite militias in Iraq. Tehran denies the charge and blames the violence in Iraq, in which tens of thousands of Iraqis have died, on the U.S.-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein in 2003."

Juan Cole points out that if Iran were truly sending IEDs and EFPs into Iraq, it would fly in the face of the evidence that the U.S. has not caught any of the pilgrims bringing in weapons or explosives. Furthermore, why would Iran want to arm Shiite militias in Iraq with IEDs and/or EFPs when its citizens are seeking to come into Iraq as pilgrims? It would be totally irrational for Iran to do this. In effect, Iran would be making sites in Iraq that much more dangerous and lethal for its own pilgrim citizens.

So far the U.S. government has shown no credible proof that Iran is involved in arming Shiite militias in Iraq, notwithstanding all the wild American charges and bluster. This news on Iranian pilgrims just adds to the belief that the U.S. under Bush and Cheney are reckless in making accusations against Iran, and that they want to bend the intelligence around their desire to start another conflict in the area, this time against Iran.