Iraqis despise Iran’s interference in its internal matte

Nothing considerable in Iraq changed after the elections that were held on October 10. The name of the leadership might have been different but the background and their ideologies have hardly any difference especially when it comes to governance. 

But one progress that the country made as a nation was despising Iran’s interference in its internal matters. Iraq has shown itself to be easily influenced by Iran having its involvement in most of its internal matters of administration. But after so many years, people have finally begun to speak against this involvement as they call out on the leaders to stay away from personal affairs. 

People have now identified that the reason for Iran’s involvement in the nation is not for superiority rather it is because of its personal gains. According to a report in local Iraqi media, the intentions with which Iran is stepping forwards in Iraq are not accepted by people. 

One of the experts in Iran-Iraq relations Marsin Alshamary recently said in an interview that the cause of Iraq’s disapproval of Iran is the sheer amount of dissatisfaction that the Iraqi people faced from the other end. "One of the more alarming things for Iran in Iraq right now is the huge sense of public dissatisfaction towards Iran,” said the expert. 

Iran was till now was of the view that despite its motives and aims in Iraq, people will not be able to identify its main plot but on the contrary, the citizens are now more informed than ever. It was already thinking of ways how it can further increase its control on Iraq but with the growing dissatisfaction of people, Tehran is very cautious of its next steps. 

Like many demands and protests, even Iraq’s moment against Iran’s interference started two years ago. Iraqis were furious and their anger led to attacks on Iran’s consulate in the southern city of Najaf. They went on top of the building and started shouting, “Get out of Iraq.” 

That was the beginning of course when Iran realized that it cannot move according to its wishes inside the Iraqi borders. After the demonstration, the matter further blew up as many of the protestors were killed by gunmen. Activists, and human rights organizations accused pro-Iranian outlets of the attack. 

Historically, the relations between Iran-Iraq were never solid until 2003, after the US-led invasion toppled Saddam Hussein, Iran gained a lot of control of the Iraqi land. The Iraqi population was vulnerable and Iran took advantage of the situation to make it a war-prone land. 

After years of influencing Iraq, people in the country have started to fear that Iran’s involvement has become too strong to be curbed. Iran is not only one of the largest trading partners of Iraq, but even the most basic of things are imported from Iran to Iraq but the people are now aware that there are alternatives and now they want to do away with the Irani presence. 

This was evident even when the major parties of Iraq, who have strong alliances with Iran, got a lot of backlashes and were unofficially banned in many parts of the country. This can only be made possible when and however the government of Iraq wishes.

Till now, the Iraqi leaders have only focused on under-the-table matters when it comes to Iran but now with the changing dynamics among the majority of the population, it is high time that the Iraqi leadership takes a call and takes the nation's internal matters into its own hands.