Iraq, Iran and the next move

Remember MENA, Iraq and Iran? We have written of this topic during the past months. The situation might escalate again with US supposed to leave Iraq. According to Stratfor, Us might want to prolong it’s stay in Iraq, considering the uprisings in Yemen, Bahrain, and the potential spill over effect into other countries. Iran has been watching developments and are keen to increase it’s presence in the Persian Gulf, especially with oil prices “stubbornly high”.

“The United States told the Iraqi government last week that if it wants U.S. troops to remain in Iraq beyond the deadline of Dec. 31, 2011, as stipulated by the current Status of Forces Agreement between Washington and Baghdad, it would have to inform the United States quickly. Unless a new agreement is reached soon, the United States will be unable to remain. The implication in the U.S. position is that a complex planning process must be initiated to leave troops there and delays will not allow that process to take place.

What is actually going on is that the United States is urging the Iraqi government to change its mind on U.S. withdrawal, and it would like Iraq to change its mind right now in order to influence some of the events taking place in the Persian Gulf. The Shiite uprising in Bahrain and the Saudi intervention, along with events in Yemen, have created an extremely unstable situation in the region, and the United States is afraid that completing the withdrawal would increase the instability.” (Stratfor)

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20110425-iraq-iran-and-next-move