A senior official in the Iraqi government has said that essential changes to the sections of Iraq's long-term security pact with the U.S. have given negotiations "a push forward," but he added that "the problem lies in Iran's and Lebanese Hizbullah's intervention in Iraq."
He said that Iran was striving to torpedo the Iraq-U.S. agreement despite the opposition by most Iraqi Shi'ite leaders to Iranian involvement in Iraqi affairs.
He added that Hizbullah, which has influence on the Shi'ites in Iraq, has also begun to apply pressure against the agreement.
Source: Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, London, June 21, 2008
