PRT SALAH AD DIN: IRANIAN VICE PRESIDENT VISITS

C O N F I D E N T I A L BAGHDAD 003456

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR IR IZ
SUBJECT: PRT SALAH AD DIN: IRANIAN VICE PRESIDENT VISITS
SAMARRA WITHOUT PROVINCE'S KNOWLEDGE

REF: BAGHDAD 3418

Classified By: PRT Leader Rick Bell for reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (U) This is a PRT Salah ad Din cable.


2. (C) Summary: Iranian Vice President Mohammad Javad Ali
Akbari visited the Golden Mosque in Samarra October 24,
accompanied by the Iraqi Minister of Youth and Sports. This
is the second visit by a high-ranking Iranian official this
month; local officials had no advance knowledge in either
case. End Summary.


3. (C) On October 24, Iranian Vice President and Head of
Youth Mohammad Javad Ali Akbari visited the Golden Mosque in
Samarra, accompanied by the Iraqi Minister of Youth and
Sports, Jasim al-Jaafar. This is the second visit by a
high-ranking Iranian official in October: The Iranian
Ambassador to Iraq visited on October 1 (reftel). In both
cases, local authorities had no advance knowledge.


4. (C) The Governor of Salah ad Din Province, the Qaimmaqam
("mayor") of Samarra and the Iraqi Minister of Electricity
were visiting the new Jalassia power station under
construction south of Samarra when the Qaimmaqam received
word from the Samarra Operations Center that President
Talibani's motorcade had arrived in town. On arrival back in
Samarra, the Qaimmaqam determined that the visitors were the
Iranian VP and the Iraqi Minister of Youth and Sports, who
were traveling with President Talibani's security detail.
The Governor and Qaimmaqam proceeded to the Golden Mosque and
met briefly with the visiting party. The VP's party was in
Samarra for approximately three hours. (NOTE: The Golden
Mosque is a major Shia shrine; according to Shia belief, the
twelfth and final Imam, who will return as the Mahdi, went
into occultation from that spot. The population of Samarra
is overwhelmingly Sunni Arab, as is the population of Salah
ad Din province as a whole. END NOTE.)


5. (C) The Governor (Sunni Arab) invited the Iranian VP to
invest in the province, and in return the VP invited him and
the Qaimmaqam to visit Iran. The Governor declined the
invitation on the basis that the Provincial Council (PC)
elections are coming up and the timing would be awkward. He
offered to send the Deputy Governor (who is also running for
PC on a rival list and would likely decline for the same
reason). The Qaimmaqam declined period, and later commented
to the Samarra PRT representative that he would "never
consider going to Iran."

(U) COMMENT
--------------

6. (C) It is plausible that the failure to give local
officials advance notice of these two recent Iranian visits
was simply a security precaution. Even so, the Golden Mosque
is ostensibly under the Sunni Waqf, and access to it is
supposed to be controlled by the commander of the Samarra
Operations Center, according to a written instruction from
the Prime Minister. These two surprise visits feed the fear
(already widespread among locals) that the Iraqi Government
is colluding with Iran to place Samarra under radical Shia
control.



CROCKER