On Feb. 21, a British diplomat said Teheran has offered to stop
supporting insurgency strikes in Iraq in exchange for an end to the West's
campaign against Iran's nuclear program.
"The Iranians wanted to be able to strike a deal whereby they stopped
killing our forces in Iraq in return for them being allowed to carry on with
their nuclear program," Britain's ambassador to the United Nations, John
Sawers, said. "'We stop killing you in Iraq, stop undermining the political
process there, you allow us to carry on with our nuclear program without let
or hindrance.'"
In a Feb. 18 briefing, Battaglia, whose area of operations cover the
Iraqi provinces of Dhi Qar, Maysan and Muthanna, said U.S. and Iraqi
military units found hundreds of Iranian-origin 122 mm and 107 mm rockets as
well as 500 improvised explosive devices.
"We have never captured any munitions being smuggled across the border,
but the border is very open," Battaglia said. "There is movement across
quite freely."
[On Feb. 23, at least eight people were killed or injured in a bombing
in downtown Baghdad. Police said the improvised explosive device was
detonated to strike a police patrol near a hospital.]
In a Feb. 21 interview to the British Broadcasting Corp., Sawyers said
the Iranians relayed the proposal during meetings in London. He said other
sessions with Iranian representatives were held in European capitals over
the last year.
"There were various Iranians who would come to London and suggest we had
tea in some hotel or other," Sawers said. "They'd do the same in Paris,
they'd do the same in Berlin, and then we'd compare notes among the three of
us."
