WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a fiery warning to Iran yesterday, demanding that the rogue country’s leaders keep their hands off Iraq after the complete pullout of US troops this year.
“Iran should look at the region. We may not be leaving military bases in Iraq, but we have bases elsewhere,” Clinton said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“No one should miscalculate America’s resolve and commitment to helping support the Iraqi democracy.
“We have paid too high a price to give the Iraqis this chance, and I hope that Iran and no one else miscalculates that,” she said.
“We have support and training assets elsewhere. We have a NATO ally in Turkey,” she added while addressing fears that Iran will try to exert more influence in the country once the US is gone.
Clinton delivered the strong warning as she made the rounds of TV political talk shows to defend President Obama’s pullout plan, which he announced last week after failing to convince Iraq to let US troops stay.
Clinton said a US pullout was what Iraqis wanted.
Still, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Obama’s troop withdrawal was “a serious mistake.”
“It is viewed in the region as a victory for the Iranians. And I don’t think there’s any doubt there is,” McCain said on ABC’s “This Week.”
He pointed to radical Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr announcing that his Mahdi Army would begin attacking US embassy workers as soon as the US troops have pulled out.