Seyed Mohammad Reza Seyed Ahmad, speaking in an interview with the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, referring to the Iraqi Prime Minister’s meeting with the NATO Secretary General and announcing readiness of the military alliance to expand relations with Iraq, said: It seems that with the US withdrawal from Iraq, the West seeks to replace NATO member countries; in fact, in the new policy, the United States will leave Iraq and re-enter the country with a new appearance and within the framework of NATO.

Saying that we are witnessing efforts to reduce the presence of US troops and increase the presence of NATO security and espionage forces in Iraq, he added: This division of work was due to economic and security reasons between NATO and the United States and in the program the US has designed, it is trying to be behind the scenes, given the pressure from Iraqi popular groups to implement the Iraqi parliament’s decision for the withdrawal of American forces.

Need for Iraq to pay attention to Afghanistan’s failed experience

The expert on Iraq affairs stressed the need for Iraqi groups and the Iraqi government to pay attention to the experience of Afghanistan and the inability of foreign forces in establishing stability and security and escalating crises and noted: The NATO Secretary General claims to be trying to prevent ISIS from regaining power in Iraq while the Iraqi security forces and al-Hashdal al-Shaabi have enough power to protect the security and stability of that country.

He added: Resistance groups in Iraq have a huge capacity to provide security. The parade held at Camp Ashraf in the presence of the Iraqi Prime Minister was very decisive. In fact, presence of the Prime Minister was a blow to the United States and the US Embassy, ​​and it shows that in terms of security, the Prime Minister is also with the resistance forces.

Recalling that the initial plans to expand NATO’s mission in Iraq were at the request of former US President Donald Trump, Seyed Ahmad continued: Resistance forces in Iraq have the upper hand in the military dimension and do not tolerate threats and play a decisive role. Certainly, if Iraq is threatened, the resistance forces will react strongly, and the United States is aware of this power.

NATO presence in line with suppressing resistance groups

He referred to the decision of the NATO military coalition to increase its forces in Iraq eight times and said: The purpose of such decisions is to reduce the pressure on the aggressors by suppressing the resistance groups and the United States to withdraw its troops while maintaining security forces.

The Iraqi affairs expert said that the Iraqi groups, the parliament and the government of Mr. Al-Kazemi should be aware that there is no difference between NATO and the United States and should face a more prudent policy with NATO forces, emphasizing the need to pay attention to the strategic consequences of the presence and also influence in the cultural and security situation in Iraq.

Seyed Ahmad added: The Iraqi parliament should be aware that the occupier cannot be defined as being “bad” or “good”. In fact, the playing ground must be changed by emphasizing the departure of all the occupiers in order to eliminate such sinister plan.

He cited presence of the United States and NATO in strengthening US-leaning forces, noting that those groups have no weight in Iraq and are not decisive. This has forced the United States to strengthen them. The superiority of the resistance forces in terms of security and military has enabled them to be influential in the political dimension as well.

NATO, US seek to shift balance in Iraq

The researcher on Iraq affairs added: NATO and the United States seek to change the balance, to put pressure on the resistance groups, to force them to react recklessly and hastily to form criticism and pressure from inside Iraq on those groups and isolate the resistance groups.

Seyed Ahmad stressed the need for political action against forces trying to increase NATO’s security, political and cultural presence in Iraq, saying that presence of NATO forces is contrary to the principle of sovereignty and increases internal divisions in the country. Under such situation, the Iraqi resistance groups and sympathizers must pay attention to the balance of forces in that country, and in addition to the military dimension, the strength of the resistance forces must also increase in the cultural, media and political dimensions.

Referring to the statements of some Arabic-speaking analysts that the NATO alliance has been trying to divide the region and dominate the wealth of different nations since its inception, he continued: Resistance groups and countries must take the pretext and claim of build infrastructure to make Iraq prosperous from NATO forces and have the upper hand in this regard.

Seyed Ahmad considered it necessary to pay attention to the living problems of the Iraqi people and added: In any case, the Iraqi people have problems in issues such as water, electricity and fuel. The member states of the resistance group must have this strategy and work together in this regard so that the Iraqi people are not attracted to the claims of the West.