Sunday’s Gulf State Security Conference has illuminated just how much Iraq is relying on Iran to secure the Persian Gulf region.

At this conference, Iraqi National Security Adviser Mouaffak al-Rubaie stressed the need for the Persian Gulf states to come together in a nato-style regional security pact. The purpose of this proposed pact would be to foster regional reconciliation rather than heightening the “sectarian tension” that is causing so much bloodshed in the region. Iraqi officials have called for Iran to be a key member of this pact.

“I do believe Iran is a major power in the Middle East and holds a key for stability and peace for the whole region,” Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi told reporters. “It is our destiny to live with Iran,” he said. “It is inevitable … that we should work on regional arrangements that lead Iran to be a source of good to the region and not a source of harm.”

These comments came the very day after U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates expressed concerns that Tehran’s foreign policy was a threat to the Middle East.

Al-Rubaie further stressed that as long as the U.S. refuses to seriously interact with Iran, the long-term security of the region will be in doubt. “It is feasible for the government of Iraq to have on one side the strategic ally, the United States of America, and on the other side, we have a good relationship with Iran,” he said. “I believe they are not mutually exclusive.”

A week earlier, on December 3, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad urged the Gulf Cooperation Counsel to establish economic and security pacts that would foster close cooperation between the Gulf states “without foreign interference.”

U.S. and Iranian officials are meeting in Damascus on December 18 to negotiate strategies on how to quell Iraqi violence. This meeting will be the fourth round of U.S.-Iranian talks over Iraq this year. Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, who will also be attending the Damascus meeting, commented: “As for the cooperation of Iran, we indeed have many indications to see that it has provided assistance. Of course, because of the overall situation, we always desire for more.”

Now that the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (nie) has stated Iran halted its nuclear weapons program four years ago, a major inhibition to American cooperation with Iran has been removed. The U.S. now feels it can negotiate with Iran more freely.

Sectarian divides have prevented Iraq’s democratic government from gaining real stability and necessitate America’s presence in Iraq to try to keep peace. For the U.S., which increasingly feels trapped in Iraq with no clear-cut exit strategy, cooperation with Iran seems to be the only way out. Tehran has shown itself more than willing to be involved in Iraq, and Iraq is already looking to Iran as having the “key for stability and peace for the whole region.”

As the United States looks for a way out, Iran may just take over.

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in December 1994 that Iraq could fall to Iran. He went on to say that “Such a takeover by Iran would shock the world—especially Europe …. Can you imagine the power [Iranians] would have if they gained control of Iraq, the second-largest oil-producing country in the world?”

This eventuality seems to be well under way. Watch America’s presence in Iraq dwindle as Iran’s increases. But this won’t provide the stability Iraqis seek. For more information, read “Is Iraq about to Fall to Iran” by Gerald Flurry.