What were Qasem Soleimani and Khamenei's son doing in Baghdad?

Just hours after a storage site housing ballots from Iraq’s parliamentary election caught fire, the Iranian ambassador to Iraq has invited on Sunday Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the Iranian Supreme Leader, and Qasem Soleimani, senior Revolutionary Guard officer, for an Iftar meal at the embassy headquarters.

The Iftar feast was also attended by former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who heads the State of Law coalition, and Hady al-Amri, head of the Fatah List.

Sources speaking to Al Arabiya English on condition of anonymity said that the Iftar feast prepared by the Iranian ambassador in Baghdad included senior Iranian leaders as well as leaders from Al-Hashd al-Shaabi, or the Popular Mobilization Movement, along with other officials from Al-Maliki and Al-Amri alliances.

Talks during the Iftar meal were mainly focused about the future of selecting the those who will be part of the majority bloc which will be tasked to shape the upcoming government.

The talks mentioned plans to form a coalition that includes the State of Law bloc led by al-Maliki, which has 29 seats, in addition to Al- with its 48 seats, the Kurdish blocs with 43 seats, along with some other small blocs that intend to merge with the State of Law coalition.

All will form an alliance with more than 120 seats, while direct talks are being conducted with leaders of the Victory Coalition, led by Iraqi Prime Minister  Abadi, to join to the coalition, in order to reach 175 seats.

This presence of Iranian officials, the sources said, reflect the blatant Iranian meddling in Iraq’s national affairs, with aims to form a coalition majority of more seats than that of  al-Sadr's list, which has 120. 

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TERRORIST COMMANDER IS BEHIND IRAN'S MEDDLING IN IRAQ

By: Struan Stevenson 

Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The interference of the Iranian terrorist commander Qasem Soleimani in the internal affairs of Iraq has reached scandalous proportions that should sound alarm bells in the West.It has emerged that the general, who commands the terrorist Quds Force, responsible for foreign operations by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, orchestrated the reoccupation of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk

and many other Kurdish regions in Northern Iraq.

Kirkuk and other disputed areas bordering Kurdistan had been held by the Iraqi Kurds for the past two years after the Kurdish Peshmerga military force successfully ousted the Islamic State. The Americans recently listed the IRGC as an international terrorist organization; the Quds Force has been on terrorist blacklists for years.

The Iraqi federal government had been reeling from the apparent takeover of Kirkuk by the Kurds. There was also increasing tension and splits within Kurdistan itself, with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, one of the two main parties controlling the KRG and the main opposition to Barzani's ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party.

It now seems that some of the leaders of the PUK, close allies of the Iranian regime, met with Soleimani in the city of Sulaimania the day before the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered Iraqi military forces and pro-Iranian militias, such as Hashd al-Shaabi, to reoccupy Kirkuk. Barzani, his party and many Kurdish leaders and parties have accused some of the leaders of the PUK of betraying Kirkuk and the martyrs who died rescuing the city from IS.

Many of the PUK's senior officials and members of the Peshmerga have condemned those leaders who have betrayed them.

ANALYSIS: How the tide turned against Iran in Iraqi Kurdistan

FILE PHOTO: Iranian Revolutionary Guard Commander Qassem Soleimani (L) visits the town of Tal Ksaiba in Salahuddin province, Iraq in 2015. (Reuters)
Heshmat Alavi, Special to Al Arabiya EnglishMonday, 23 October 2017

Despite all the brouhaha made over Iran’s “lightning” advances in Iraqi Kurdistan, the entire scene change in less than 48 hours.

Tehran desperately needed to respond to US President Donald Trump’s lambasting October 13th speech launching a major policy shift and designating the Iranian regime’s crown jewel, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), as a terrorist organization.

The flag representing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), brought down by Iran-backed militia forces known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), was raised once again Wednesday night.

Despite the tens of thousands of locals who fled their homes, footage on social media showed armed residents stationed in the streets of Kirkuk, Khaneqein and a number of other cities.

With locals taking matters into their own hands, and international pressure escalating on Baghdad, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered all armed forces other than local security units to withdraw, forcing the PMF to retreat.

This is literally a slap in the face for Tehran