Foreigners Inciting violence in Iraq is ‘playing with fire’: Iran official

Foreigners Inciting violence in Iraq is ‘playing with fire’: Iran official

The photo shows a burning Iraqi army military vehicle in Ramadi, Iraq, 70 miles west of Baghdad, April 23, 2013.

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has warned foreign sides against inciting violence in Iraq, describing the measure as “playing with fire.”

Amir-Abdollahian said on Friday that Iraq is the land of vigilant and resistant people and leaders.

“Having failed in Syria, foreign sides are now seeking to create sedition in Iraq, whereas this is playing with fire,” Amir-Abdollahian added, urging the outsiders to act wisely.

Clashes between Iraqi security forces and anti-government gunmen over the past few days have left over a 140 people dead across the country.

On Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki condemned the recent wave of violence, and said some regional countries are trying to drag the country into a sectarian war.

"There will be no winner in the sectarian strife, everyone will be a loser and let those who ignite it be prepared because it will burn their fingers too; whether they are insiders or outsiders," Maliki said.

Pointing to the ongoing unrest in Syria, Amir-Abdollahian said that those who have failed in the Arab country should avoid relying on the US and Israel and instead rely on their own nations or else they would be tagged as the “main agents of crisis and insecurity in the region.”

He said that the Syrian people are fighting terrorism in the country, adding that the support of certain parties for the massacre of people as well as the sending of arms and militants into the Arab country has revealed the true nature of the Syrian developments.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011. Many people, including large numbers of Syrian army and security personnel, have been killed in the violence.

The Syrian government says the chaos is being orchestrated from outside the country, and there are reports that large numbers of the militants fighting in Syria are foreign nationals.