Prince Turki Al-Faisal: the US presented Iraq to Iran on a silver platter

Shafaq News / The former Saudi General Intelligence chief, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, revealed that a US decision allowed Iran to extend its hegemony over Iraq.

Al-Faisal, who was also the kingdom’s ambassador to Washington, said in an interview that the late Prince Saud Al-Faisal, his country's late foreign minister, proposed 2004, after the collapse of the government in Iraq and the execution of Saddam Hussein, an initiative to end the American military mission in Iraq. 

He added that Prince Saud discussed the then-US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, during a meeting between them in Jeddah,  replacing the US mission in Iraq with Arab and Islamic forces to ensure security inside the country, but Powell rejected this proposal.

Prince Turki pointed out that the situation in Iraq began to deteriorate after the movements against the American occupation erupted, Noting that some of those movements were organized by the remnants ousted regime's military and security services or Iran proxies.

The former Saudi official recalled that Prince Saud al-Faisal said in 2005, in a meeting with journalists during his visit to the US, that Washington “presented Iraq to Iran on a silver platter,” and revealed that the US Secretary of State at the time, Condoleezza Rice, called her Saudi counterpart and asked him to withdraw his statements, but he refused.