Lara Marlowe is interrupted by gunfire outside the window as she talks to Iran's representative in Baghdad, Hassan Kavemi Ghomi
A splendid palace adorned with replicas of bas-relief sculptures from Persepolis, reflecting pools and gardens, stands in the centre of Baghdad. Built 70 years ago by Reza Pahlavi, the father of the late Shah, the embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran is probably the finest in Baghdad.
It's in a bad neighbourhood though. Two streets to the west, the high-rise apartment blocks of Haifa Street are a base for the insurgency, used for sniping at and bombing US patrols. Immediately to the east is the vast fortress of the US-controlled Green Zone.
At night, Iranian diplomats hear mortars whizzing overhead, including two that exploded in the Green Zone to mark the beginning of Saddam Hussein's trial. My interview with Iran's representative in Baghdad, chargé d'affaires Hassan Kavemi Ghomi, was several times interrupted by gunfire outside the windows.
Even in a war zone, the Iranians show infinite courtesy to visitors: not a single bag search or metal detector. They are trying to build trust in a world where no one trusts them.
Iran is on the front-line here, politically and strategically. The US did Tehran an enormous favour by overthrowing Saddam Hussein.
Last January, elections brought to power the Supreme Council for the Islamic Republic in Iraq (SCIRI) and Dawa ("the call"). Their leadership had lived in Tehran for more than two decades. Even President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, took refuge for a few years in Iran.
Iran's new influence however frightens Sunnis and inspires allegations by the US and Britain that Iran is playing both ends against the middle - publicly supporting the US-backed, pro- Iranian government, while secretly helping the insurgency that fights the government, US and British forces.
"We want a stable and secure Iraq," Ghomi insists repeatedly. "Those whose soldiers were found wearing Arab clothing, with weapons and equipment in the south - they are making the south insecure," he adds, referring to two British agents caught in still unexplained circumstances in Basra last month.
"There is no difference between what they do and what the terrorists do; the effect is the same. We do not accept it."
Sheikh Ibrahim Abu Zahra, a cleric in Sadr City who is close to Moqtada al-Sadr's movement, goes further than the Iranian diplomat. "The British officers were arrested in Basra placing bombs to kill civilians," he claimed to me in a telephone interview, alleging two subsequent unreported incidents in which British and US officers were caught in the act of sabotage. "They want Iraq to have a civil war, so they can have a reason to stay and keep stealing our petrol," Ibrahim continued. "Not only Moqtada Sadr believes this; everyone believes it now, even people in the government. They have told me."
Ghomi does not make such sweeping accusations, but he mentions recent bombings in Ahwaz, southern Iran, one of which killed six people this week.
"Those arrested in Iran in connection with this explosion confessed that they came from the British-controlled area," the Iranian diplomat says.
"They are smuggling weapons and those who give them weapons have a connection with Britain. We are not blaming, we are investigating."
For its part, Tony Blair's government has accused Iran, or its Hizbullah allies in Lebanon, of providing insurgents in the south with bombs triggered by infra-red beams.
The Independent on Sunday reported on October 16th that this technology was perfected by the IRA in the early 1990s, then transferred by the IRA to Palestinians in Lebanon, who shared it with Saddam's Baathists. London and Washington have repeatedly accused Iran of aggravating Iraq's chaos. "We think this is one form of pressure on the Iranian nuclear programme," Ghomi says.
So is the nuclear row between the US, Europe and Iran provoking an intelligence war on the ground in Iraq?
"We do not want to bring our differences with other countries into Iraq," Ghomi continues.
"Our relations with Iraq are not affected by other issues. On the nuclear file, we have some problems. It is not related to the Iraqi issue."
Perhaps, but US-Iranian rivalry is real here. One small example: Tehran funds the Shia television station al-Furat, while Washington finances the government station al-Iraqiya.
Salah Mutlak, a Sunni leader, says the US naively allowed Iran to finance Iraqi parties after Saddam fell. "Now they are disturbed because of the Iranian influence. Why didn't they think of this from the beginning?" he asks.
Iran believes time is on its side. "We have historic, cultural ties," Ghomi explains. "This means our co-operation cannot be broken. Maybe some regime can temporarily break this relationship, but the break cannot last."
The US and Tehran agree, as Ghomi says, that the best way to end the occupation is "to build an Iraqi military and police".
But what kind of security forces? Most come from the Badr Brigades (which returned with SCIRI from Iran after Saddam fell), Moqtada al-Sadr's militia and Kurdish peshmerga.
"We have a memorandum of understanding with the Iraqi defence ministry on controlling the border and we are ready to train Iraqi troops and exchange intelligence information," he adds.
Ghomi gives two explanations for the widespread perception that Iranians are pouring into Iraq. "A million people fled to Iran because they opposed Saddam's regime," he says. After 25 years they speak the language so well they are perceived as Iranian when they return to Iraq.
Also "the Baath party propagated the belief that the enemy came from the east, from Iran. Schoolbooks portrayed us that way. The propaganda of the Baath party against Iran was vicious. It is time it died away."
The hatred of many Sunnis for Iran makes the idea that Iran is helping the Sunni-led insurgency implausible, but it is spreading.
"I believe Iran supports the Sunni insurgent groups," says Ali Dabbagh, an independent Shia member of parliament.
"They have connections with the ex- Baath party now, because they have a common enemy: the US. Iraqis will suffer for it."
Ghomi dismisses such allegations for two reasons: "If Iraq becomes a laboratory for terrorism, it will spill over our borders and it would provide an excuse for the occupation forces to stay longer."
