VP Hashemi: U.S.-Iran meeting damages Iraq's sovereignty, says he will make Iraqis 'aware of the agenda'

Tariq al-Hashemi, is one of two Iraqi vice-presidents and the leading Sunni representative in goverment. His call comes at a time when both Iraq's leading Shi'ite politician and leading Kurdish politician -- Abdul Aziz al-Hakim and Jalal Talabani -- are in the U.S. for 'medical' reasons.

Iraq's Sunni vice president spoke out Sunday against the upcoming U.S.-Iran talks on the situation in his country, saying the dialogue was "damaging to Iraq's sovereignty."

Iraq's Shiite and Kurdish-dominated government has been pressing for those talks, due to take place on May 28 in Baghdad to help appease spiraling violence in Iraq. But the comments by Tariq al-Hashemi, a leader of the main Sunni bloc in parliament, reflected wide differences among the country's religious and ethnic groups on the role of Shiite-dominated Iran...

Al-Hashemi said he would have preferred that the subject of Iraq's stability was "tackled by Iraqis themselves."

"This is really damaging to Iraq's sovereignty,"he said.

The vice president said he would make sure Iraqis were "aware of the agenda,"and "consulted on whatever resolution and agreement"was reached during the bilateral meetings between the U.S. and Iran.

Read the rest at the Guardian

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