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A main focus of Kerry's stop in Iraq was to urge the country's leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, to stop allowing Iranian flyovers delivering arms and assistance to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been battling rebels in a bloody civil war.
"We will be very direct about the importance of stopping the overflights, or at minimum inspecting each of the flights," a senior State Department official said aboard Kerry's plane as it flew to Baghdad from Amman, Jordan.
The official estimated Iranian planes fly over Iraq nearly daily on their way to Syria.
Last fall, Kerry's predecessor at the State Department, Hillary Clinton, called on Iraq to take steps to prevent Iran from using its land and airspace to deliver shipments to Syria. At the time, Iraq agreed to conduct random inspections of Iranian planes bound for Syria.
Iraq's foreign minister said at the time the country faced a difficult task in enforcing the inspections.
"We explained to the U.S. side that Iraq's air defense capabilities are limited, and we are in the stage of building our air force," Hoshyar Zebari said in a newspaper interview.
Iranian flights over Iraq to Syria began in March 2012 but were stopped shortly after, at the request of Iraq, Zebari said. The flights resumed in July.
The State Department official said al-Maliki would be offered a "theoretical seat at the table" on determining the political future of Syria if he agrees to halt the Iranian flights in Iraq's airspace.
Syrian rebels have been fighting to oust al-Assad for more than two years in a conflict that's claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than a million people. Earlier this month, Western counterterrorism officials and analysts told CNN that Sunni jihadist groups were growing in strength along the Syria-Iraq border.
The groups could post a challenge to both the al-Assad government in Damascus and the Shiite-led government of Iraq.
Scores of people were killed and wounded earlier this week on the same day Iraq marked the ten-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion.
The attacks - 17 car bombs, seven roadside bombs, and two shootings - ripped mostly through Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, but also struck Sunni communities in other towns. At least 187 people were wounded.
The deteriorating security situation prompted authorities to postpone Provincial Council elections scheduled for April in the provinces of Anbar and Nineveh - a decision the State Department official said on Sunday was done without the input of Sunnis or Kurds.
Kerry will push al-Maliki to reconsider his decision to delay those votes during his meetings Sunday, the official said.
(CNN) – Secretary of State John
Kerry landed in Baghdad on Sunday, where he planned to press Iraq's
leaders to prohibit Iranian planes from flying over the country to
deliver arms to Syria's embattled government.
The previously unannounced stop came after Kerry accompanied
President Barack Obama on a trip to Israel, the Palestinian territories
and Jordan. This week marked the ten-year anniversary of the beginning
of the U.S.-led war in Iraq, and the first time since 2009 that a U.S.
secretary of state visited the country. Obama last went to Iraq in April
2009.A main focus of Kerry's stop in Iraq was to urge the country's leaders, including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, to stop allowing Iranian flyovers delivering arms and assistance to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who has been battling rebels in a bloody civil war.
"We will be very direct about the importance of stopping the overflights, or at minimum inspecting each of the flights," a senior State Department official said aboard Kerry's plane as it flew to Baghdad from Amman, Jordan.
The official estimated Iranian planes fly over Iraq nearly daily on their way to Syria.
Last fall, Kerry's predecessor at the State Department, Hillary Clinton, called on Iraq to take steps to prevent Iran from using its land and airspace to deliver shipments to Syria. At the time, Iraq agreed to conduct random inspections of Iranian planes bound for Syria.
Iraq's foreign minister said at the time the country faced a difficult task in enforcing the inspections.
"We explained to the U.S. side that Iraq's air defense capabilities are limited, and we are in the stage of building our air force," Hoshyar Zebari said in a newspaper interview.
Iranian flights over Iraq to Syria began in March 2012 but were stopped shortly after, at the request of Iraq, Zebari said. The flights resumed in July.
The State Department official said al-Maliki would be offered a "theoretical seat at the table" on determining the political future of Syria if he agrees to halt the Iranian flights in Iraq's airspace.
Syrian rebels have been fighting to oust al-Assad for more than two years in a conflict that's claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than a million people. Earlier this month, Western counterterrorism officials and analysts told CNN that Sunni jihadist groups were growing in strength along the Syria-Iraq border.
The groups could post a challenge to both the al-Assad government in Damascus and the Shiite-led government of Iraq.
Scores of people were killed and wounded earlier this week on the same day Iraq marked the ten-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion.
The attacks - 17 car bombs, seven roadside bombs, and two shootings - ripped mostly through Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad, but also struck Sunni communities in other towns. At least 187 people were wounded.
The deteriorating security situation prompted authorities to postpone Provincial Council elections scheduled for April in the provinces of Anbar and Nineveh - a decision the State Department official said on Sunday was done without the input of Sunnis or Kurds.
Kerry will push al-Maliki to reconsider his decision to delay those votes during his meetings Sunday, the official said.
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