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REGION: US undermined our efforts to stabilise Iraq: Iran

* Iran government’s reshuffle imminent
* Lawmakers vote to split biggest province

TEHRAN Iran said on Sunday that America’s iron-fisted policies and the lack of security undermined Iranian efforts to bring calm to Iraq and that it would no longer cooperate with Washington on those endeavors.

Iran had sent a diplomatic delegation to Iraq in an effort to improve security but Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said the team did not make the contacts it had hoped, and blamed the Americans.

The latest setback to Iranian efforts came after an Iranian diplomat was killed in Baghdad on Thursday, causing Iran to distance itself from mediation efforts to end a standoff between Iraqi militias loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and US forces.

“From the very beginning of the crisis, Iran tried to help ease tension but ... Washington’s employment of an iron-fist policy further complicated the situation,” Asefi said.

He was apparently referring to the increasing use of force by the US military, which laid siege to Fallujah last week after the killing and mutilation of four American civilians.

He also said America’s policies caused the failure of the mission of an Iranian diplomatic delegation to Iraq last week.

He said Hossein Sadeghi, a top Iranian Foreign Ministry official, failed to meet with al-Sadr and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani, Iraq’s most powerful Shiite cleric.

“We couldn’t meet Sadr or Ayatollah Sistani ... because of lack of security,” Asefi said.

The spokesman said that although Iran’s influence was limited, without its efforts the situation in Iraq “would have been even more complicated,” but said Iran would not cooperate any longer with the United States over Iraq.

“It’s natural that we can’t cooperate with occupying forces unless occupiers give administration to the United Nations so that power is transferred to the Iraqi people within an acceptable timetable,” he said.

“We consider the US one of the countries creating the crisis. So, there is no talk of cooperation but announcing opinions and warnings so that it gets out of this situation,” he told reporters.

Govt reshuffle: Iran’s embattled reformist President Mohammad Khatami is to reshuffle his cabinet in the coming days ahead of a major shift to the right in parliament, the official news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.

“The reshuffling of President Khatami’s cabinet will be determined in the next few days,” Mohammad Reza Aref, Khatami’s first vice president, was quoted as saying, confirming weeks of speculation over imminent changes in the government.

Aref did not reveal who would be ousted from the cabinet, but press reports say the changes are likely to focus on posts related to the Islamic republic’s economy - in line with the platform of the incoming conservatives.

Lawmakers vote: Parliamentarians voted on Sunday to split Iran’s largest province - Khorasan, in the northeast - into three, a proposal that has sparked violent protests in the past.

Dozens were injured and scores arrested in street clashes in 2001 and 2002 when the government first proposed dividing the province, which borders Afghanistan and Turkmenistan and is famed as the home of the mediaeval poet Omar Khayyam.

Lawmakers said the province, which grows saffron, the world’s most expensive spice, should be carved up to allow more equitable budget allocation, accusing the regional capital Mashhad of swallowing the bulk of state money.

“Some argue the lack of development in Khorasan is due to its vastness,” one lawmaker, who declined to be named, told Reuters after the vote.

Under the decision, which must be approved by the conservative Guardian Council watchdog, Khorasan will be divided into Northern, Southern and Razavi Khorasan, with capitals in Bojnurd, Birjand and Mashhad respectively.

Protests against division have in the past centred on the town of Sabzevar, the province’s largest urban centre after Mashhad.

Some residents fear they will lose influence and slices of the budget when rival cities are made new regional capitals. The region has many strong tribal loyalties.

“Dividing Khorasan will make the country poorer and stir up tension and inflation. This move harms vulnerable people,” parliamentarian Hossein Ansarirad said in the debate, broadcast live on state radio.

Khorasan lies on the ancient Silk Road, which carried spice caravans to Europe from China. It still prospers from its status as a trade crossroads. agencies

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