Iraq Slams UN Silence Over Iran's Missile AttacksIraq on Tuesday slammed the United Nations for silence over Iran's recent missile attacks on Iraqi territory, the official Iraqi News Agency reported.In a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Foreign Minister Tareq Aziz urged the world organization to shoulder its commitments toward Iraq's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. The UN Security Council has taken "coercive measures" to prevent Iraq from rebuilding its defensive capabilities, while the region is engaged in an arms race, Aziz said, adding that the " double-standard policy has encouraged regional and non-regional forces to launch attacks against Iraq." He said that the Iranian attacks and its financing of Iraqi opposition groups were aimed at "destabilizing Iraq." Iraq has said that six civilians died and 36 others were wounded when Iranian forces launched 68 missiles against an Iranian opposition group based in Iraq last Wednesday. In a letter to the UN Security Council last Wednesday, Iran acknowledged that its forces attacked Iraqi bases of the rebel Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO), and has threatened to launch more attacks against the MKO unless it ceases cross-border raids. Iraq has retaliated against the attacks by shooting down an unmanned Iranian reconnaissance plane over Iraqi territory last Thursday. Iraq and Iran, who fought a war in 1980-88, play host to each other's opposition groups. The MKO has often engaged in attacks against Iran, while the Tehran-based Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq has vowed to continue attacks until the Iraqi government is toppled. The issues of opposition groups and prisoners of war have impeded the two neighbors from normalizing their relations more than a decade after their bloody war ended. |
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