Chalabi, in Tehran, Meets With Iranian President Before Traveling to U.S. Next Week

Dexter Filkins, The New York Times:

Ahmad Chalabi, the former Iraqi exile who has become a deputy prime minister, met with senior Iranian leaders here on Saturday in what appeared to be an effort to distance himself from their Islamist government, just days before he visits Washington.

In a series of closed meetings, including one with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, Mr. Chalabi said he had spoken to the Iranians about Iranian interference in Iraq’s domestic politics, a move likely to endear him to the Bush administration.

American and some Iraqi officials have long alleged that the Iranian government is deeply involved in Iraq, directly assisting Iraqi political parties and private Shiite militias. “The principal reason is to tell them about our concern about some of the activities in Iraq,” Mr. Chalabi said of the Iranians. “We feel it is very important to address some of these issues, like border security and so on.” READ MORE

Mr. Chalabi said he also made clear to the Iranians that the Iraqi government would maintain close ties to the United States. “It is important to emphasize and tell them very clearly that we working with the United States and they have come to help us liberate Iraq and that we are interested in having a decent Iraq,” he said. “It is very important that they help us achieve that.”

In raising the issues from the Iranians, Mr. Chalabi seemed to be trying to position himself as a secular, American-backed candidate, and possibly as Iraq’s next prime minister.

Next week, Mr. Chalabi is flying to Washington to meet with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in what may become a public thaw between the Americans and Mr. Chalabi after months of chilliness.

Mr. Chalabi, once a confidant of the Bush administration and a principal proponent of the invasion of Iraq, fell out of favor with the White House last year.

The timing of the visit, which both sides said came at the Iranians’ request, suggested the possibility that Mr. Chalabi might have been asked to carry a message from the Iranians to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at their scheduled meeting next week. Mr. Chalabi is also scheduled later to meet the Treasury secretary, John W. Snow.

Mr. Ahmadinejad, a strict Islamist elected in June, has become increasingly isolated in recent weeks.

In September, the International Atomic Energy Agency rebuked Iran for noncompliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty over its insistence on developing advanced nuclear technologies. In a speech on Oct. 26, Mr. Ahmadinejad created a stir when he told a rally of Iranian students that Israel should be “wiped off the map.” After those remarks, Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, postponed a visit scheduled for the coming week.

But Mr. Chalabi said he had not been asked by the Iranians to mediate with the Americans. Mr. Larijani, the head of the national security council, also said his government had made no such request.

Mr. Ahmadinejad, who appeared before reporters before meeting with Mr. Chalabi on Saturday, did not speak publicly.

In an interview, Mr. Larijani reiterated his government’s intention to continue developing advanced nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. The Bush administration says Iran is hiding its effort to build nuclear weapons. “The pressure they are putting on Iran over its nuclear program, it will only result in more hatred for America,” Mr. Larijani said, reiterating his government’s position that it did not intend to develop nuclear weapons.

Mr. Chalabi’s visit may be connected to Iraq’s parliamentary elections, scheduled for Dec. 15. The events of Saturday suggested that Mr. Chalabi had embarked on a campaign to reposition himself as a secular, American-backed candidate, and, perhaps, an alternative to the Shiite alliance that currently dominates the government in Baghdad.

Mr. Chalabi’s visit to Iran on Saturday follows the recent announcement that he intended to chart a more secular course in Iraqi politics, by leaving the Islamist-minded Shiite coalition that dominated the January elections.

Earlier this month, Mr. Chalabi said he had dropped out of the Shiite coalition that dominated the Iraqi elections in January. The coalition is dominated by Islamist politicians.

While the exact circumstances of Mr. Chalabi’s departure from the Shiite alliance was unclear, Mr. Chalabi said he no longer wanted to be part of what he described as an Islamist coalition. “My intention was to give people in Iraq who are Muslim but who do not support the Islamist parties a choice,” he said.

As his relations with the Bush administration soured, Mr. Chalabi aligned himself with overtly Islamist leaders like Moktada al-Sadr and sometimes struck an anti-American tone.

The nadir in relations between the Bush administration and Mr. Chalabi came in May 2004, when the Americans accused Mr. Chalabi of divulging classified information to the Iranians. Mr. Chalabi denied the charge. The outcome of the investigation is not known.

In an interview after his meeting with Iranian leaders, Mr. Chalabi said he had secured a promise that they would not oppose him if he made a run at becoming Iraq’s prime minister. “Clearly I am not going to be a candidate for prime minister because they tell me to,” Mr. Chalabi said of the Iranians. “They certainly expressed support for the idea that if the process is done locally, then they would not oppose it.”

It was impossible to verify that assertion, but in an interview, Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran’s national security council and one of the senior officials who met with Mr. Chalabi, said Iranian leaders held him in high regard. “He is a very wise man and a very useful person for the future of Iraq,” Mr. Larijani said.

For their part, Iranian leaders said that they were indeed a primary force in internal Iraqi politics, and that would continue to be.

Last January, after the Shiite coalition’s selection of Ibrahim al-Jafaari as its choice to be prime minister, rumors swirled about Baghdad that the Iranians had intervened strongly on his behalf. At the time, Mr. Chalabi was one of a number of Iraqi leaders being considered for the top job.

Asked about this, Mr. Larijani said that the Iranians had indeed intervened strongly with Iraq’s Shiite leaders, but that they had not sided with a particular candidate. “We helped them to come to a unity among themselves,” he said. “America should consider this power as legitimate,” Mr. Larijani said of his country’s role in Iraqi affairs. “They should not fight it.”

The timing of Mr. Chalabi’s visit, and the acknowledgment by the Iranians that he had come on their invitation, suggested the possibility that Mr. Chalabi might have been asked to carry a message from the Iranians to Secretary of State Rice at their meeting next week. Mr. Chalabi and the Iranians denied that.

Mr. Chalabi is also scheduled to meet later with the Treasury secretary, John W. Snow.

Mr. Ahmadinejad, a strict Islamist elected in June, has become increasingly isolated in recent weeks.

In September, the International Atomic Energy Agency rebuked Iran for noncompliance with the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty over its insistence on developing advanced nuclear technologies. In a speech on Oct. 26, Mr. Ahmadinejad created a stir when he told a rally of Iranian students that Israel should be “wiped off the map.” After those remarks, Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, postponed a visit scheduled for the coming week.

Mr. Chalabi said he had not been asked by the Iranians to mediate with the Americans. Mr. Larijani, the head of the national security council, also said his government had made no such request.

Mr. Ahmadinejad, who appeared before reporters before meeting with Mr. Chalabi on Saturday, did not speak publicly.

In an interview, Mr. Larijani reiterated his government’s intention to continue developing advanced nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. The Bush administration says Iran is hiding its effort to build nuclear weapons. “The pressure they are putting on Iran over its nuclear program, it will only result in more hatred for America,” Mr. Larijani said.

Mr. Chalabi’s move toward secular leadership appears to signal a new phase in his political maneuvering.

As an exile, he was long a favorite of the Defense Department. But after the American-led invasion, he took a harshly critical line on the efforts of foreign military forces and relations with the Bush administration soured. Last year, he aligned himself with overtly Islamist leaders, including the firebrand cleric Moktada al-Sadr. During that period, the Bush administration accused Mr. Chalabi of divulging classified information to the Iranians.

Mr. Chalabi denied that charge. The outcome of the investigation is not known.

In an interview following his meeting with Iranian leaders, Mr. Chalabi said he had secured a promise that they would not oppose him if he made a run at becoming Iraq’s prime minister. “Clearly I am not going to be a candidate for prime minister because they tell me to,” Mr. Chalabi said of the Iranians. “They certainly expressed support for the idea that if the process is done locally then they would not oppose it.” It was impossible to verify that assertion, but Mr. Larijani said that Iranian leaders held Mr. Chalabi in high regard. “He is a very wise man and a very useful person for the future of Iraq,” he said.

For their part, Iranian leaders asserted that they had indeed exercised a strong force in internal Iraqi politics, and they said they intended to continue to do so. Last January, after the Shiite coalition’s selection of Ibrahim al-Jafaari as its choice to be prime minister, rumors swirled about Baghdad that the Iranians had intervened strongly on his behalf.