US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis accused Iran of funneling money into Iraq to sway the outcome of its May parliamentary election.
"We have worrisome evidence that Iran is trying to influence - using money - the Iraqi elections. That money is being used to sway candidates, to sway votes," Mattis stressed.
"It’s not an insignificant amount of money, we believe. And we think it’s highly unhelpful," he told reporters as he flew back to Washington after a trip to the Middle East and Afghanistan.
Mattis also compared Iran’s actions to those of Russia. "Iran is following Russia’s example of mucking around in Iraq’s elections," Reuters cited Mattis as saying.
He declined to say whether he thought the Iranian effort had been successful or say whether Iran sought to undermine Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
