Militias backed by Iran are the greatest security threat to Iraq, the top spokesman for American forces in Iraq, Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, said August 16. These groups are larger, better organized and better funded than terrorists linked to al Qaeda, Buchanan said, even though al Qaeda is believed to be behind a spate of deadly attacks that took place on August 15.

Meanwhile, Iran is already dictating Iraq’s foreign policy. While much of the world, including Arab states, has condemned Syrian President Bashar Assad, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is following Iran’s lead and supporting Assad. Iraq has called for Syria to “reach a dialogue with the opposition,” urging the “armed gangs” not to “sabotage” the state.

“Mr. Maliki’s support for Mr. Assad has illustrated how much Iraq’s position in the Middle East has shifted toward an axis led by Iran,” writes the New York Times.

The Iranian-backed militias have the ability to cause serious problems for Iraq if it doesn’t toe the line. They are smuggling in Iranian-made weapons, some of which were manufactured just last year.

Buchanan said there is “a significant increase in support” from Iran’s Quds force, the elite unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard.

“The Quds force is providing direct support (to the militias) in terms of manning, equipping, provision of intelligence,” he said. “They have been at least exhibiting the behavior that lines up with a strategy that wants to keep Iraq weak and isolated from everybody else, all of its neighbors and the United States. And so they’ve been employing political means, economic means, security means in the way that these militant groups operate.”

Iran’s pushy tactics are alienating Iraq’s Sunni population, who sympathize with the Sunni rebels in Syria. Last month, Iran signed a contract with Iraq to build a 1,500-mile pipeline across Iraq to Syria. Representatives of Sunni Iraqis who live in the areas that the pipeline will cross have said they will sabotage it. “Such terror attacks, Iraq fears, are likely to cause Iran to demand placing its own security forces there and thus make an Iranian military presence in Iraq a fact on the ground,” writes Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

No wonder Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi said this week that “The occupation of Iraq by the U.S. did only good things for Iran. Iran became more influential than it ever dreamed.”

This what the Trumpet has been saying for years. As America prepares to pull out of Iraq at the end of the year, watch for Iran to continue to take over.