Iraq frustrates U.S. on checks of Iran planes

Inspections aimed at halting arms to Syria often not done

— The American effort to stem the flow of Iranian arms to Syria has faltered because of Iraq’s reluctance to inspect aircraft carrying the weapons through its airspace, U.S. officials say.

The shipments have persisted at a critical time for Syrian President Bashar Assad, who has come under increasing military pressure from rebel fighters. The air corridor over Iraq has emerged as a main supply route for weapons, including rockets, anti-tank missiles, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.

Iran has an enormous stake in Syria, which is its staunchest Arab ally and also has provided a channel for Iran’s support to the Lebanese Islamist movement Hezbollah.

To the disappointment of the Obama administration, American efforts to persuade the Iraqis to conduct random inspections of the flights have been largely unsuccessful.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton secured a commitment from Iraq’s foreign minister in September that Iraq would inspect flights from Iran to Syria. But the Iraqis have inspected only two, most recently on Oct. 27. No weapons were found, but one of the two planes that landed in Iraq for inspection was on its way back to Iran after delivering its cargo in Syria.

Adding to the United States’ frustrations, Iran appears to have been tipped off by Iraqi officials as to when inspections would be conducted, American officials say, citing classified reports by U.S. intelligence analysts.

Iran’s continued efforts to aid the Syrian government were described in interviews with a dozen U.S. administration, military and congressional officials, most of whom requested anonymity to discuss intelligence matters.

“The abuse of Iraqi airspace by Iran continues to be a concern,” a U.S. official said. “We urge Iraq to be diligent and consistent in fulfilling its international obligations and commitments, either by continuing to require flights over Iraqi territory en route to Syria from Iran to land for inspection or by denying overflight requests for Iranian aircraft going to Syria.”

Iraqi officials insist that they oppose the ferrying of arms through Iraq’s airspace. They also cite claims by Iran that it is merely delivering humanitarian aid, and they call the American charges unfounded.

“We wouldn’t be able to convince them, even if we searched all the airplanes, because they have prejudged the situation,” Ali al-Musawi, the spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Iraq, said of the American concerns.

“Our policy is that we will not allow the transfer of arms to Syria.”

Al-Musawi acknowledged that one of the planes was not inspected until it was returning from Damascus, but said it was a simple error, not a deliberate effort to help the Iranians.

But one former Iraqi official, who asked not to be identified because he fears retaliation by the Iraqi government, said some officials in Baghdad had been doing the bare minimum to placate the United States and were in fact sympathetic to the Iranian efforts in Syria.

Iran’s support for Syria is vital to the Assad government, U.S. officials said. In addition to flying arms and ammunition to Syria, Iran’s paramilitary Quds Force is sending trainers and advisers, sometimes disguised as religious pilgrims, tourists and businessmen, the officials say.

In August, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, criticized Iran for what they described as its assistance to the Assad government, in particular the training of a progovernment militia made up mostly of members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect.

Iran’s flights of arms to Syria drew the concern of U.S. officials soon after the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq in December 2011. Iraq lacks an air force of its own and is unable to enforce control of its own airspace, and Iran took advantage by ferrying arms to Syria.

Under American pressure, Iraqi officials persuaded the Iranians to hold off on the flights as Iraq prepared to host the Arab summit in Baghdad in March. Soon after the meeting, President Barack Obama, in an April 3 call to al-Maliki, underscored that the flights should not continue.

But after a bombing in Damascus in July that killed ranking members of Assad’s government, the Iranian flights resumed. Vice President Joe Biden raised American concerns over the flights in an Aug. 17 phone call with al-Maliki. So did Denis Mc-Donough, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, who in October met with al-Maliki in Baghdad.

When McDonough raised concerns over the inspection of the plane that was on its way back to Iran, al-Maliki asserted that he was not aware that the inspection had been carried out that way, according to one account of the meeting by an American official.

A spokesman for the National Security Council declined to comment.

There is evidence of collusion between Iranian and Iraqi officials on the inspections, according to U.S. intelligence assessments. In one instance, according to a U.S. intelligence report, Qassim Suleimani, the leader of Iran’s paramilitary Quds Force, ordered that a flight to Syria carry only humanitarian goods.

An Iraqi inspection occurred soon after, when the plane was asked to land in Iraq on Oct. 27.

Much of the U.S. intelligence community’s concerns about possible collusion has focused on Hadi al-Amiri, Iraq’s minister of transportation, who is believed to be close to the Iranians and was among the Iraqi traveling party when al-Maliki visited Washington last year.

Nasir Bender, the head of civil aviation in Iraq, said there was no indication that Iraqi officials had tipped off Iranians.

“We have orders to search any plane that we feel is suspicious, but the ones we have searched were only carrying medical supplies and clothing,” he said, adding that the Iraqis had inspected only two Iranian flights because of the cost of fuel. “We can’t search every plane because there are so many heading to Syria,” he said.

“It would be a big waste of money. Each plane we take down we must refill with fuel.”

In one instance in late October, however, an Iranian flight ignored an Iraqi request that it land, according to U.S. intelligence assessments, presumably because the Iranians did not want its cargo to be inspected.

Iraq’s attitude toward the Iranian flights has drawn the concern of lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who has been mentioned as a possible secretary of state in Obama’s second term.

“If so many people have entreated the government to stop and that doesn’t seem to be having an impact,” Kerry said in September, “that sort of alarms me a little bit and seems to send a signal to me maybe we should make some of our assistance or some of our support contingent on some kind of appropriate response.”

Front Section, Pages 13 on 12/02/2012

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