In relatively multicultural Baghdad, a sectarian mosaic of communities tells of the divisive attitudes locals have towards Iran. You can see it just by moving between different neighbourhoods, says journalist Kholoud Ramezi. “The Shiite people like Iran and the Sunnis look toward Saudi Arabia, or even towards Isis,” Ramezi says. “If you visit Sunni areas of Baghdad you won’t see any Iranian products, like milk, water, cheese or even Iranian cars and clothes. But all of these are everywhere in the Shia areas.”



According to Iraqi journalists, Iran’s influence in the country’s war against Isis is split the same way the country is: dependent on the ethnic or sectarian make up of the population in each place.

“Iran has the most influence over the ordinary person in the street,” says Ramezi, an editor with Iraqi current affairs website, Niqash.org, when asked which nation has been most popular with Iraqis during this crisis.

Ramezi lives in Baghdad but travels regularly to Karbala, a mostly Shiite city, to see her family. She also makes frequent trips to Sulaymaniyah in Iraq’s Kurdish north, where the biggest political party has strong Iranian links. “I am often talking with people there,” she says. “The popular perception among the majority of Shia is that Iran supports them. Iran supports virtually all the Shia militias and people see Iran sending fighters to protect their sacred places.”

Baghdad-based journalist Mustafa Habib explains popular Sunni perceptions of the Iran-backed Shiite militias fighting against Isis: “The Sunni population in those areas do not welcome the Shia militias, considering them potentially more violent than Isis,” says Habib. “Many politicians as well as educated or secular Iraqis also reject Iran’s role. They don’t want the Shiite militias to protect them at all costs either.”

Habib, who has good contacts inside the Iraqi military, says that Iraq’s Sunni are more inclined toward the US. The United States uses its strong links inside the Sunni tribes to get information on Islamic State positions for aerial bombardments, he says. “And the US wants to make the Sunni tribes the ground troops in the Sunni areas, rather than having the Shiite militias enter them.”

“While Sunni tribal leaders are divided among themselves as to who is in charge of what, and this is slowing down the fight against Isis, most of the tribes and armed Sunni factions are against any Iranian role.”

As for the nine Iraqi provinces mostly populated by Shiite Muslims, Habib agrees that they certainly prefer Iran over anyone else. Additionally he notes that, “Shiite politicians and fighters who are part of large pro-Iran Shiite parties have tried to mobilise popular opinion against the US. For example, Shiite militia leaders have spread rumours that US planes that were supposed to attack Isis have been hitting Shiite militias instead. The nine Shiite provinces in Iraq are looking more and more like southern Lebanon, like some kind of Iranian protectorate.”

For Kurdish people, at the grassroots level, the country with the most influence right now is the United States, says Zanko Ahmad, an editor with Kurdish current affairs magazine, Shar and the Sharpress website, based in the northern city of Sulaymaniyah. The Kurdish people see the US as a saviour, especially after Isis came so close to Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, and because of the United States support to the Syrian-Kurdish city Kobani. “However, I believe that Iranian influence is growing in the region every day and it will only get stronger after the fight with Daesh is over,” Ahmad says.

Perhaps because they are journalists, and possibly more liberal simply by dint of their profession, all of those interviewed for this story say they would prefer to see more tolerance in Iraq rather than external interference with sectarian motivation.

“The game Iran plays in Iraq has regional dimensions,” says Saleh Elias, a freelance journalist who escaped the northern city of Mosul when extremists from the Islamic State took over. “And Iraqis must be allowed to build a better future for themselves,” he insists. “But it’s also true that Shiites prefer Iran while Kurds and Sunnis prefer the US.”

“The US isn’t always here,” adds Qassim Khider, a journalist in Iraqi Kurdistan who runs the German government-funded Media Academy Iraq in Erbil. “But Iran is always here, whether you like it or not. Because Iran is a neighbour and they know that whatever happens here, will influence them.”