hailed the Iraqi people’s “unified resistance” that “forced” America to leave their country.
Khamenehi made the remarks Saturday with the visiting head of Iraq’s autonomous Kurd-istan region, Masoud Barzani.
Khamenehi said Iraq’s national resistance against the US, “which finally resulted in America being forced to withdraw from Iraq, is a golden page in the history of this nation.”
President Obama had announced earlier that all the remaining 39,000 US troops would leave Iraq by December 31. Although it was the fulfillment of a pledge President Bush had signed, many Republicans criticized Obama for leaving Iraq vulnerable to Iranian influence at a critical juncture.
Iranian commentary generally played the withdrawal from Iraq as if it were a withdrawal from the region. But the United States is working with Persian Gulf Arab states and expects to keep a large number of combat troops in the region, chiefly as caution to Iran but also to be able to drive into Iraq if Iraq should call for help internally.
As if playing on American fears, President Ahmadi-nejad said the US withdrawal was a “good thing” and that he expected a “change” in Tehran-Baghdad ties as a result.
But Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked tough as she defended the Obama administration’s withdrawal decision:
“To countries in the region, especially Iraq’s neighbors, we want to emphasize that America will stand with our allies and friends, including Iraq, in defense of our common security and interests,” she said.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta also didn’t mince any words: “The message to Iran and everybody else that might have any ideas there is that the US is going to have a presence in the region for a long time to come.”
As part of this promise, the US is already working on plans to bolster its land and sea presence in the region. These plans include sending more combat troops to Kuwait and positioning more naval ships through international waters in the region.
The US is also seeking to expand military ties with the six Arab nations of the Persian Gulf in a bid to further isolate Iran and check any ambition it might have in Iraq after the US withdrawal.
Secretary Panetta noted that the US already has 40,000 personnel in the region, including about 23,000 in Kuwait, most of whom serve as logistical support for the troops in Iraq.
The full size of new deployments In Kuwait is under negotiation and might be determined within the next few days. US military officials aware of the negotiations said any future arrangement will likely be a version of previous deployments in Kuwait.
Between the Persian Gulf War in 1991 and the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the US Army kept anywhere from a combat battalion – comprised of 300 to 1,200 soldiers – and a full combat brigade – comprised of 3,300 to 3,700 soldiers – in Kuwait. The forces were supplemented by a massive stock of arms and ammunitions at the ready for use by additional troops if the need ever arose.
But the US military is facing potentially steep budget cuts amidst a general mood of austerity within the government.
Capitalizing on that sentiment, the head of Iran’s Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces, Major General Hassan Firuzabadi, predicted that America’s plans for a significant military presence in the region would not materialize.
He said that after the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, America would face serious cost challenges in maintaining its presence in Bahrain, the Oman Sea and the Persian Gulf.
He added that a complete withdrawal from the area is the true wish of the nations of the region.
Eventually, he said, the US government will have to move out of the region if it wants to solve its budgetary problems.
That depends, however. Germany and Japan want US forces in their territory so strongly that they pay much of the cost themselves. The Persian Gulf Arabs might be induced to do the same.