WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- As talks for forming a post-Saddam government in Iraq shape up, Iran fears being left out of a major political development in the region which will have a direct impact on Tehran as well.
Iraq is a nation with which the Iranians fought a 10-year war in the 1980s. Iraq also has a large Shiite population, which looks to Iran for protection whenever it faces persecution at home. Iran is the world's only Shiite state and has been actively supporting Shiite minorities in nearby states like Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Lebanon.
The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990 brought U.S. forces to the region, causing a direct threat to the radical Islamic government in Iran, which opposed U.S. influence in the Middle East.
In 1997, however, Iranian reformist Mohammed Khatami was elected president with an overwhelming majority. He was reelected with a larger majority four years later.
Khatami's government wants to roll back the extremist policies of the clerical governments that have ruled the country since the revolution of 1979. He favors improving relations with the West, particularly the United States, and fears that if Iran continues to opt out of the U.S.-led talks on Iraq, it will be further isolated in the region.
In order to break Iran's isolation, the Iranian government has allowed several Iraqi opposition leaders to visit the country for consultations with Iran-based Iraqi Shiite groups.
On Monday, two such leaders -- Ahmad Chalabi and Masoud Barzani -- met Ayatollah Mohammed Baqar al-Hakim, who heads the main Shiite opposition group, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
SCIRI is an umbrella for a number of Shiite Islamist groups, including some that have in the past coordinated activities with Iran's intelligence services. The group maintains an office in Tehran that is paid for by the Iranian government.
Chalabi leads the Iraqi National Congress while Barzani heads the Kurdistan Democratic Party.
The KDP is one of two Kurdish parties that control Kurdish northern Iraq, under the protection of the U.S.- and British-enforced "no fly" zone.
"In the meeting, the two sides reviewed the possible scenario in Iraq after the fall of Saddam and discussed ways and means to establish and promote ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran," KDP representative Ebrahim Pirut told Iran's Islamic Republic News Agency.
Barzani arrived in Tehran on Saturday "to discuss Iraq's future with Iranian officials as well as with Iraqi opposition leaders," IRNA said.
On Sunday, the Kurd leader met the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mehdi Karroubi, who urged the Iraqi opposition to maintain unity. He said that "Iraq's independence and territorial integrity" must be protected, a reference to Iran's long-standing opposition to the creation of a separate Kurdish state in Iraq. To prevent this, the Iranians have also been discouraging Iraqi Shiites from demanding a separate state for themselves.
On Sunday, Barzani visited the mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini in southern Tehran to pay homage to the founding father of the Islamic revolution.
IRNA says that both Barzani and Hakim support Saddam's removal and the election of a new leader in Iraq but say that such a leader should be acceptable to all Iraqi groups.
The leader of the other main Kurdish party -- the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan -- Jalal Talabani, may also visit Iran in the near future, IRNA said.
The negotiations among various Iraqi groups precede a major opposition gathering in London to hammer out a power-sharing setup to replace Saddam. More than 300 delegates from six main Iraqi opposition parties are slated to attend this meeting, which begins Friday.
IRNA also mentioned media reports that after Saddam's fall, Washington may appoint one of its own generals to oversee the formation of a new government in Iraq.
"Iraqi rebel groups, however, have expressed their opposition to any U.S. interference in the country's future," the report said.
The two Iraqi leaders, however, said they want to be included in the future Iraqi government.
Iran's decision to allow Kurd rebel leaders to confer with Iraqi Shiite leaders indicates a major change in Tehran's policy towards the Kurds.
Like Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria have significant Kurdish minorities and fear that the creation of a Kurdish state in Iraq could be destabilizing. That is why Iran has always opposed the idea of a separate Kurdish homeland and in the past has tried to prevent Kurdish leaders from getting together.
But apparently, fear of being left out of a new setup in Baghdad proved stronger than the fear of troubles in the country's Kurdish enclave.
Consultations with Kurdish rebels are also seen as another moderating influence of the Khatami government on Iran's policies.
Despite the electoral defeat of the parties that support their rule, Iran's clerical establishment has retained its control over the armed forces and other powerful state apparatus, impeding Khatami's efforts to reform Iran.
On Nov. 6, the country's religious courts sentenced a reformist college professor, Hashem Aghajari, to death for demanding religious reforms.
The clerics also oppose Khatami's moves to improve relations with the West and observers say that by allowing Kurdish rebels to visit Tehran, Khatami has created a difficult situation for the conservatives.
They argue that if the conservatives oppose the move, they can later be blamed for opting out of crucial talks on a development that has far-reaching consequences for Iran.
However, the conservatives are also aware that several Iraqi opposition groups, particularly the Kurds, enjoy strong U.S. support. Most of them attended an all-party meeting held in Washington in August and agreed to work with the United States to topple Saddam.
Some of them fear that engaging Iraqi opposition groups would open a channel for talks with the United States and the reformists may avail this opportunity to reach out to Washington.
But at the same time, Iranian leaders -- both moderate and conservatives -- are convinced that the United States has decided to bring in a new government in Iraq, even if Saddam complies with the U.N. resolutions.
And they want to make sure that the new Iraqi government, if not friendly, is at least not hostile to Iran. That's why the conservatives did not stop the talks with the Iraqi opposition, observers said.
