Iran cleric sees problems, duress in U.S.-Iraq pact

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Iranian cleric said on Friday parts of a U.S.-Iraqi security pact backed by the parliament in Baghdad this week remained problematic, and Washington had forced its passage with pressure and threats.

But Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, who heads a powerful constitutional watchdog in the Islamic Republic, appeared to welcome the inclusion in the accord of a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.

He was the first senior Iranian figure to comment on the deal, which paves the way for U.S. forces to leave Iraq by the end of 2011, after lawmakers approved it on Thursday.

The pact, which parliament linked to a series of promised political reforms and a public referendum next year, brings in sight the end of a U.S. military presence that began with the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Iran has repeatedly blamed the United States for the violence and bloodshed in Iraq in the last 5 years and wants its old foe to quit the neighboring country as soon as possible.

"Yesterday, this pact was finally approved despite the ... problems it had. This ratification was not a normal one," Jannati, head of the Guardian Council, told Friday prayer worshippers in Tehran in a sermon broadcast on state radio.

He likened its signing to "somebody standing over your head with a sword," saying Washington had threatened to indirectly overthrow the Iraqi government if it was not ratified.

The pact replaces an expiring U.N. mandate. It gives Iraq authority over about 150,000 U.S. troops in the country, who will be obliged to withdraw from towns by mid-2009, and makes them liable for some crimes committed when they are off duty.

Agreeing a departure date was seen by Iraq as clinching a key concession after months of arduous talks, with Washington negotiators initially loath to specify a withdrawal timetable.

Jannati said this amendment should be "praised" but that U.S. forces would continue to enjoy legal immunity. He also said Iraqi authorities would not be able to inspect U.S. shipments.

Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani earlier this month reportedly urged Iraqi lawmakers to keep resisting the accord, saying Washington's main aim was "strengthening comprehensive U.S. hegemony" in Iraq.

Iran and Iraq fought an 8-year war in the 1980s, but ties between the predominantly Shi'ite Muslim countries have improved since the downfall of Saddam, a Sunni Arab strongman.

The U.S. military has long accused Iran of arming, training and funding small Shi'ite militia units which attack U.S. troops and Iraqi forces, a charge Tehran denies.

(Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)