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Popular Protests Deal Blow to Iraq, Iran Ties

Edward Yeranian

   CAIRO - As Iraqi protesters burn effigies of Iran's Supreme Leader
   Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and set fire to Iran's consulate in Karbala, 40
   years of Iranian policy towards its neighbors appears to be going down
   the drain.

   Iraqi protesters in Baghdad chanted slogans against Iran's Shi'ite
   proxy militias in their country as they set fire to pictures of Iran's
   Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his top regional commander
   Gen. Qassem Suleimani. Iran warned its citizens not to travel to Iraq
   last week, as protests spread to the country's Shi'ite holy sites.

   Crowds of mostly young Iraqi protesters set fire to parts of the
   Iranian consulate in the Shi'ite holy city of Karbala Sunday, as young
   men with Iraqi flags danced on the walls outside the building.
   Protesters also set fire to party offices of pro-Iranian militia groups
   in several cities, as popular wrath turned against Tehran and its
   agents.

   Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei provoked the anger of many
   Iraqis last week after he accused foreign countries of fomenting
   protests in both Iraq and Lebanon:

   He says that the United States and some Western and Gulf states have
   been using their intelligence agencies to support the riots and chaos
   (in Lebanon and Iraq).

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