Iraq rejects Arab troops replacing U.S.

BAGHDAD, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The Iraqi government on Wednesday announced its opposition in Baghdad to replacing U.S. troops with Arabic troops from neighboring countries.

At a news conference, Cabinet spokesman Ali Al Dabbagh said the proposal made by Iran on Sunday had been rejected as it breached regional commitments to support Iraq's political process without interfering in the country's internal affairs, Alsumaria reported.

During the weekend meeting, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini said the plan would focus on driving armed militant groups out of Iraq,and also expelling the various foreign private security firms working there, Iran's Fars new agency reported.

David Satterfield, the U.S. State Department's top coordinator on Iraq, accompanied U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the Istanbul meeting and called Iran's troop-swap idea a "most extraordinary proposal," Fars reported.