Iran's Khameini warns Iraq over pact with US

January 5, 2009

Iran's state television says the country's supreme leader has warned visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki about a U.S-Iraq security deal that will allow American troops to stay in Iraq for three more years. The Sunday report quotes Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying the United States and its promises could not be trusted and that Iraqis could only ``feel relief'' when the Americans leave their country. Khamenei has final say on all state matters in Iran. The US-Iraq accord gives the Iraqis oversight over U.S. military operations and limited judicial jurisdiction over American soldiers and civilian Pentagon contractors while off-duty and off-base. The U.S. and Iran have been at sharp odds since the 1979 Islamic revolution.