I think Iran has used the whole complex of the Syrian crisis and the sanctions to increase its influence over Iraq. The withdrawal of confidence crisis – which I suspect in part may have been staged when the Sadrists and ISCI for a while pretended to “threaten” Maliki only to pull out in the last second – ultimately served as a reminder to Maliki about his dependence on the Shiite alliance. He did have the opportunity to win over Arabs in the disputed territories who were unhappy with Allawi’s pro-Kurdish policy but didn’t take it. That brings us back to the same kind of dynamic we had in autumn 2010 before the formation of his second government.

Thanks for this — your frequent analysis is missed, but all too understandable in light of your current ordeal. Hopefully you will eventually receive justice.

I do have one question, in regards to the past year of Iraqi politics: what impact, if any, has international sanctions on Iran affected the Iranian-Iraqi relationship. Has this granted Baghdad even the slightest amount of greater leverage, or brought them any further under the thumb of Tehran?