Clinton warns Iran not to 'miscalculate' over Iraq

WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Iran on Sunday not to "miscalculate" the continuing US commitment to Iraq after the withdrawal of all American combat forces at the end of the year.

"No one, most particularly Iran, should miscalculate about our continuing commitment to and with the Iraqis going forward," she said in an interview with CNN, pointing to the US military presence in the region and alliance with Turkey.

Clinton's comments came a day after President Barack Obama announced that all 39,000 US combat forces would be out of Iraq by the end of the year, after Iraq refused to give legal immunity to a small residual force that Washington had hoped to leave behind.

Clinton said that the US military will still perform a training and support mission in Iraq after the pull-out, and the United States will maintain a robust diplomatic presence in the country.

However, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Friday that the training mission must still be negotiated with the Iraqis, and conservatives in Washington attacked the pull-out as leaving the door open to Iran.

Clinton countered that the United States would be relying on more than just its diplomatic presence in Iraq to keep Iran in check.

"In addition to a very significant diplomatic presence in Iraq which will carry much of the responsibility for dealing with an independent, sovereign, democratic Iraq, we have bases in neighboring countries, we have our ally in Turkey. We have a lot of presence in that region," she said.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011