Concern Over Iran’s Nukes Drowns Out Its Growing Role in Iraq

4 minute read

Consternation over Iran boiled Tuesday on Capitol Hill as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared Tehran’s push for nuclear weapons “could well threaten the survival of my country.” But over at the Pentagon, the Iran focus wasn’t on Netanyahu but Iraq. That’s because Iran is playing a key role in Baghdad’s fight to retake Tikrit from the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria, while the U.S. is confined to the sidelines.

After the U.S. invested $26 billion rebuilding the Iraqi army over the past decade, some Pentagon officials found it disconcerting to see Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias leading the charge into Saddam Hussein’s hometown. The Iranians, of course, are relishing the opportunity: Hussein was running Iraq when it launched the eight-year Iran-Iraq war that ended in a stalemate in 1988 with roughly 200,000 killed on each side.

American concern is justified: having Iranian-backed Shi’ite forces storm largely-Sunni Tikrit risks turning the conflict against the Sunni ISIS forces into a sectarian conflict that could balloon into a civil war. “It’s absolutely key that [the Iraqi government] make sure that they have provisions in place to accommodate the Sunnis,” Army General Lloyd Austin, chief of the U.S. Central Command, told the House Armed Services Committee Tuesday. “That lack of inclusion is what got us to this point, and I think the only way that we can ensure that we don’t go back there is if we have the right steps taken by the government.” Fewer than 1,000 of the 30,000 fighters battling ISIS for Tikrit are Sunni tribal fighters, according to Iraqi estimates.

The populations of both Iran and Iraq are primarily Shi’ite. Since Saddam’s hanging in 2006, the Sunnis of western Iraq have been treated poorly by the Shi’ite-dominated government in Baghdad. Many Sunnis welcomed ISIS’s move into the region last year, when it killed more than 1,000 Iraqi Shi’ite troops who had been stationed at a base known, when the Americans were there, as Camp Speicher. Some of the Shi’ites attacking Tikrit are bent on revenge for the slaughter, which could exacerbate intra-Muslim tensions.

7 Times World Leaders Addressed Congress

Pope Francis in Washington DC
Pope Francis, addressed a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress with with Vice President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House John Boehner in the House Chamber of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, on Sept. 24, 2015, urging legislators to work together to solve problems and avoid polarizationJim Lo Scalzo—EPA
US-ISRAEL-CONGRESS-NETANYAHU
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister, addressed Congress on March 3, 2015, urging a stop to the Iran nuclear talks. His policy positions are often controversial, but he enjoys a privileged position when it comes to visiting the legislature, this was his third visit to Congress.Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images
King Hussein JOrdan Yitzhak Rabin Israel Joint Session Congress
Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli Prime Minister, and King Hussein of Jordan shake hands following a joint address to Congress on July 26, 1994. In the second of two Arab-Israeli appearances, Jordan's leader appeared with Israel's prime minister to celebrate their peace treaty. The treaty, signed the next month, ended a 46-year state of war.David Rubinger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
Joint Session of Congress Nelson Mandela South Africa
Nelson Mandela addresses Congress on June 26, 1990. At the time, he was president of the African National Congress. Apartheid was still law in South Africa and Mandela had only just been released from prison a few months before his appearance before lawmakers.Kevin Larkin—AFP/Getty Images
Joint Session of Congress Pakistian Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto, prime minister of Pakistan, addresses Congress on June 7, 1989. She was the first woman elected to lead an Islamic state, and she remains Pakistan's only woman prime minister to date. After serving two non-consecutive terms, she was exiled to Dubai in 1999. She returned to Pakistan in 2007 to run for the office again, and was assassinated.J.Scott—AP
Joint Session of Congress Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher, British Prime Minister, addressed Congress on Feb. 20, 1985. She was the first female head of state to do so who was not a monarch.Bob Daugherty—AP
Anwar Sadat Menachim Begin Israel Egypt Joint Session Congress
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin respond to applause in the chambers of the U.S. House of Representatives during a joint session of Congress on Sept. 18, 1978. A day earlier, the leaders had signed the historic Camp David accords, which ended 30 years of war and led to a peace treaty between the two nations in 1979.AP
Iran Shah Reza Pahlavi Joint Session Congress
Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, addressed Congress on April 12, 1962. He was deposed in 1979. No Iranian leader has addressed a joint session since.Aziz Rashki—AP

Iran, according to reports from the front and Pentagon officials, is backing Iraqi forces with air power, artillery fire and advisers guiding Shi’ite militiamen, who account for perhaps 10,000 of the fighters trying to retake Tikrit. “This is the most overt conduct of Iranian support, in the form of artillery and other things,” Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, told the Senate Armed Services Committee later Tuesday. “Frankly, it will only be a problem if it results in sectarianism.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. — which has conducted thousands of air strikes against ISIS targets since August — has been grounded in the battle to retake Tikrit. The daily U.S. tally of air strikes launched Wednesday ticked off targets around al Asad, Bayji, Mosul, Ramadi and Sinjar. But there were no strikes in or around Tikrit, although U.S. drones are keeping a nervous eye on the fighting (“We have good overhead imagery,” is how Austin put it).

Iran has reportedly dispatched commanders notorious for their killings of Sunnis to the fight. That may lead Tikritis to view those seeking to free their city from ISIS’s grip not as rescuers but as bloody vengeance-seekers.

As the U.S. and Israel work to keep Iran’s nuclear genie bottled up, both Washington and Tehran have said they are not operating together inside Iraq. “We don’t coordinate with them,” Austin, whose command oversees U.S. military forces inside the country, repeated Tuesday.

In other words, they’re allied, but not allies. “The battle between Iran and ISIS doesn’t turn Iran into a friend of America,” Netanyahu told Congress on Tuesday. “Iran and ISIS are competing for the crown of militant Islam … They just disagree among themselves who will be the ruler of that empire.”

More Must-Reads from TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com