Tehran’s Iraq policy

Is Iran as fearful of collapse in Iraq as America is? That's what this piece argues. The total collapse of the Shia-led government would, according to the author, not only be a blow on its own, but it might send refugees spilling across the border and exacerbate ethnic tensions within Iran. Earlier, Iran tacitly encouraged the factions to use ...

By , a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies.

Is Iran as fearful of collapse in Iraq as America is? That's what this piece argues. The total collapse of the Shia-led government would, according to the author, not only be a blow on its own, but it might send refugees spilling across the border and exacerbate ethnic tensions within Iran.

Is Iran as fearful of collapse in Iraq as America is? That's what this piece argues. The total collapse of the Shia-led government would, according to the author, not only be a blow on its own, but it might send refugees spilling across the border and exacerbate ethnic tensions within Iran.

Earlier, Iran tacitly encouraged the factions to use their weaponry in an effort to destabilize Iraq and bog down U.S. forces there. Now, Iranian officials are heeding a call for restraint by religious leaders in the Shi'a holy city of Najaf.

Odd as it may seem, the U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan could be a diplomatic boon to Tehran, which can play kingmaker as it steadily pursues its nuclear aims.

David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist

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