John Brennan says elite Quds Force leader Qassem Suleimani has been ‘very aggressive and active’ in advising Shia militias against Islamic State

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The role of the leader of Iran’s elite Quds Force in directing Iraqi forces against the Islamic State is complicating the US mission against terrorism and contributing to destabilization in Iraq, the director of the CIA said Sunday.

The comments by John Brennan on Fox News Sunday are among the strongest yet voiced by American officials about the involvement of shadowy general Qassem Suleimani in the war against the extremist group.

Brennan described Suleimani as being “very aggressive and active” as he advises Shiite militias battling the extremists, mostly recently in the ongoing offensive targeting Tikrit, Saddam Hussein’s hometown.

Qassem Suleimani: commander of Quds force, puppeteer of the Middle East Read more

Brennan said he “wouldn’t consider Iran an ally right now inside Iraq”.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, general Martin Dempsey, testifying at a congressional hearing this past week, said that the US worries that Shia militiamen might eventually turn against Sunni and Kurdish Iraqis, further destabilizing the country.

But Brennan said he didn’t believe the presence of Suleimani and his advisers pointed to Iran having a larger role in Iraq and its future. However, he acknowledged it’s not for lack of trying. Baghdad’s Shia-led government has forged closer ties with Iran, its adversary in a 1980s war.

“We’re not letting them play that role. I think they’re working with the Iraqis to play that role,” the CIA head said.

In discussing the country’s instability, Brennan pointed to the Iraqis themselves rather than the pullout of US troops. Iraqi security forces crumbled in Isis’s lightning offensive last summer. The militants now hold a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in their self-declared caliphate.

“I think the fault really lies with a number of the Iraqis who wasted and squandered the opportunity they had after the government was reconstituted not to put at rest some of these sectarian tensions and not to be more inclusive as far as bringing the Sunni community in,” Brennan said.