Senior Lawmaker Advises US to Rapidly Withdraw Troops from Iraq

TEHRAN (FNA)- A prominent Iranian legislator blasted US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for his "irresponsible" allegations about Iran's interference in Iraq, and advised Washington to withdraw its forces from Iraq instead of projecting the blame for its failures on others.
"Iran has announced many times that the US should leave Iraq and leave administration of the country's affairs to its people," Vice-Chairman of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Esmae'il Kosari told FNA on Tuesday.

"The military presence of the US in Iraq is no more tolerable for the Muslim nation of the country," he added.

His remarks came in response to Panetta's recent allegations that the United States could take unilateral military action against Shiites who, he claimed, are allegedly armed by Iran if they continued to attack US troops.

Kosari downplayed the comments and threats by the US defense secretary, and said, "The only unilateral action that you can take is a rapid withdrawal from Iraq's soil."

Panetta's claims about Iran were also dismissed by a senior US State Department official who confessed that Washington has no proof to substantiate its allegations about Iran's arms shipment to militant groups in Iraq.

Speaking to FNA in Iraq's Northern Kurdish city of Erbil on Monday, US Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Thomas Nides repeated his country's earlier claims against Iran, but admitted that the US has no "strong and tangible evidence" to prove the claim.

He said "the US it does not have any proof or document to corroborate its allegations" against Iran in this regard.