Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Iran Tries to Resolve Dispute With Cleric

Updated 12:54 PM ET April 15, 2004


By LEE KEATH

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - An Iranian envoy headed to Najaf on Thursday to try to resolve the U.S. standoff with a radical Shiite cleric, an intervention by a nation Washington has tried to keep out of Iraqi affairs and a sign of the eagerness to avert a U.S. attack on the holy city.

Hours after the announcement, gunmen killed a high-ranking diplomat from the Iranian Embassy in Baghdad. It was unclear whether the killing was linked to the mediation effort.

Khalil Naimi, the first secretary of the Iranian Embassy, was shot in the head in his car near the embassy, Foreign Ministry official Mohammad Nouri told The Associated Press in Tehran.

Also Thursday, the military acknowledged it wants to boost its strength in Iraq, though it was unclear whether that meant requesting more troops.

The top U.S. generals in the Middle East and in Iraq, Gen. John Abizaid and Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, have "decided they want more capability given the current security situation here in Iraq," said Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Myers said the need to defend supply lines for U.S. forces was "part of the calculations" by Abizaid and Sanchez in making their request.

Iraqi militants, meanwhile, executed an Italian security guard who was taken hostage, the first captive known to have been killed among dozens of foreigners kidnapped during in a surge of violence this month.

But they released three Japanese civilians seized a week ago and threatened with death if Tokyo didn't withdraw its troops from Iraq. Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has stood firm in not backing down from his commitment to the U.S.-led coalition.

The wave of kidnappings has sent a chill through the foreign community, including aid workers, journalists, and private contractors. Many have chosen to leave the country.

The identity of the kidnappers _ apparently a variety of small groups _ has been unclear. A senior U.S. official said the military and coalition did not know who they were but suspected former intelligence officials from Saddam Hussein's regime or foreign militants.

In the besieged city of Fallujah, U.S. warplanes struck guerrillas early Thursday, the latest in nightly fighting that has strained a four-day truce called to allow Iraqi negotiators to try to end the violence.

In houses around the city, Marines and insurgents have been digging in, preparing for the possible complete collapse of the cease-fire. Insurgents were launching increasingly sophisticated attacks on Marine positions at night, Marine commanders said.

A soldier was killed Wednesday in an attack in the central city of Samarra, the military said. Another soldier earlier reported as killed in Mosul actually died of a heart attack, the military said. At least 88 U.S. soldiers have been killed in April _ making it the deadliest month for Americans in Iraq. More than 900 Iraqis also have been killed, the most since Saddam's fall.

To try to keep the political process moving, a top U.N. envoy proposed that an Iraqi caretaker government take power when U.S. officials hand over sovereignty on June 30. Lakhdar Ibrahimi's plan would dump the current Governing Council and set up an executive of highly respected Iraqis, including a prime minister, president and two vice presidents.

The plan, for the first time, would give the United Nations a role in picking the new government, in contrast to the entirely U.S.-picked Governing Council, which many Iraqis dismiss as lackeys of Washington.

The executive would be chosen by the United Nations, the Governing Council, the coalition and a select group of Iraqi judges, according to the U.N. spokesman's office in New York. Party or ethnic affiliation would not be a factor in the choice, a distinct difference from the current council, carefully proportioned on ethnic lines.

Washington has tried to keep the political process almost solely between it and the Iraqis, but sharp differences over how to move forward forced it to give the United Nations a prominent role.

Now, this month's violence was giving an entry to Iran.

An Iranian delegation, headed by senior Iranian Foreign Ministry official Hussein Sedeqi, met Wednesday with Massoud Barzani, current president of the Iraqi Governing Council.

The talks were "positive" and the Iranians expressed their willingness to mediate the U.S. dispute with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said council member Mahmoud Othman. The Iranians headed to Najaf on Thursday, an al-Sadr aide said.

Some 2,500 U.S. troops are massed outside Najaf, vowing to capture al-Sadr, located at his office next to the city's Imam Ali Shrine _ the holiest Shiite site in the world.

A U.S. assault into the city could enflame Iraq's Shiite majority and push them closer to al-Sadr, whose militia launched a bloody uprising last week against coalition forces across the south. It would also fan anti-American sentiment in Shiite communities around the world, including mostly Shiite Iran.

Iranian-U.S. relations over Iraq have been complex. Iran has great influence in mostly Shiite southern Iraq and has an interest in the success of the U.S.-led political process, which would likely produce a friendly Shiite-led government. Tehran endorsed the U.S.-picked Governing Council _ which has some close Iranian allies among its members _ and has not tried to stir up Iraqi Shiites against the U.S.-led occupation.

But at the same time, President Bush has denounced Iran as part of an "axis of evil," and U.S. officials frequently accuse Iran of allowing infiltrators into Iraq.

Tehran and Washington have been holding behind-the-scenes communication on how to restore order in Iraq, Iran's Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said Wednesday, though he said they have been "going nowhere."

Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, persuaded al-Sadr to drop defiant demands he had put forward to Iraqi politicians mediating the standoff. Among other things, al-Sadr demanded U.S. troops withdraw from all Iraqi cities.

Al-Sadr militiamen in Najaf appeared to be preparing for a fight, moving into buildings and onto rooftops on the outskirts, said Col. Dana J.H. Pittard, head of the 2,500 U.S. troops amassed outside the city, ready to move in against al-Sadr.

On Tuesday night, insurgents launched near simultaneous attacks on several positions of a company of U.S. Marines controlling a few blocks in the northeast of Fallujah. In a five-hour battle, one of two armored vehicles sent to resupply a front-line position got lost in an ambush and ended up inside the southern part of city.

The vehicle, with 20 U.S. Marines inside, came under an even larger ambush. At least 100 gunmen opened fire with rocket-propelled grenades, hitting it at least 10 times, knocking out its communications and its engine.

"They've been preparing for this the whole time. ... We definitely stumbled into the wasp nest," said Capt. Jason Smith.

At least 20 insurgents were killed in the battle, Marines said.

In other violence:

_ Around midnight, gunmen attacked the house of Iraqi Electricity Minister Ayham al-Samarie, sparking a gun battle with his guards. There were no casualties.

_ A car bomb exploded near a U.S. patrol outside Baqouba, and witnessed reported U.S. casualties. There was no comment from the military.

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pri&dt=040415&cat=news&st=newsd81vbsoo0&src=...