PM advisor: ‘We expect peaceful political solutions to be reached in the region within days’

BAGHDAD — Sabhan Mulla Jiyad, the political advisor to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani, said that an Israeli strike on Iran was expected and imminent two days ago, but international pressure contributed to its postponement. He hinted at the possibility of canceling the strike to push towards diplomatic efforts. Mulla Jiyad expressed expectations of reaching a “peaceful” political solution “within days,” especially as major powers are working “behind closed doors.”

President Biden is expected to talk to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today in the first such call since August. Axios reports that it will be an attempt to “shape the limitations of the Israeli retaliation,” so that the mooted strikes are “significant but without being disproportionate.”

Excerpts from Sabhan Mulla Jiyad’s interview with Al Iraqiya:

From the very first moment tensions escalated in the region weeks ago, the Iraqi government chose the diplomatic path to address the crisis, in addition to providing humanitarian aid to the Lebanese and Palestinian people. Based on these approaches, the Prime Minister acted during his trip to New York, with his calls for an emergency Islamic summit, as well as the upcoming trilateral summit between Iraq, Egypt, and Jordan.

The Zionist enemy exploited the events of October 7 to expand the conflict, not just for revenge, but to implement a major political project announced by Netanyahu: the New Middle East, through forming new alignments. Iraq has opposed this from the beginning, attempting to contain the conflict within Gaza, so that other issues, such as those concerning Egypt and Lebanon, alongside the Palestinian cause, which reignited last year, do not erupt.

If the international community does not unite behind efforts to contain the conflict, the war will not stop at Lebanon or the Islamic Republic alone; it may extend to the entire region. Although all countries in the region are not supportive of the war, the main beneficiary of the conflict’s expansion is Netanyahu himself, due to reasons related to his political future.

It was expected that Israel would strike Iran two days ago, and it was imminent within hours at the time. However, it seems that international pressure contributed to delaying and mitigating the strike, or perhaps to leverage it to find a political alternative. The French president’s statements are clear regarding the development of political solutions in the region, and that military and security solutions alone will not protect Israel.

We expect peaceful political solutions to be reached in the region within days, or possibly weeks, as international efforts are intensifying, and major countries are working behind the scenes to defuse the crisis and prevent the conflict from escalating further.