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Source: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3705
Who Wins in Iraq? Iran
[Foreign Policy-Carnegie Endowment for International Peace] Vali Nasr - In the political vacuum that followed Saddam's fall, Iranian influence quickly spread into southern Iraq on the back of commercial connections - driven by a growing volume of trade and a massive flow of Iranian pilgrims into shrine cities of Iraq - and burgeoning intelligence and political ties. Iran's influence quickly extended to every level of Iraq's bureaucracy, Shiite clerical and tribal establishments, and security and political apparatuses. The war turned a large part of Iraq into an Iranian sphere of influence and, equally important, paved the way for Iranian hegemony in the Persian Gulf. The writer is professor at the Naval Postgraduate School and adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.