TEHRAN, Iran — When the coalition invaded Iraq to topple late dictator Saddam Hussein, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, a former prime minister and back then one of Iraq’s prominent opposition figures, was one of the few in his camp who opposed the US-led invasion. However, after the fall of Saddam, Jaafari became the first head of his country’s interim governing council that was known to be backed by Washington, and later on he won the 2005 election.

“I’m against any war against my country, I don’t believe in wars,” he told Al-Monitor in Tehran. He said that he’s always a fan of political settlements and that’s why he backs the Iranian-US rapprochement and political solution in Syria, but in Iraq, he backs his successor and former comrade Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s campaign on al-Qaeda-backed groups in Anbar province.

“When the administration suffers from armed militants, its main responsibility is to fight and liberate the country from them,” explained Jaafari, adding that most of the militants aren’t even Iraqi, "but even if they are Iraqis they don’t have the right to fight their government.”

Excerpts from the interview follow.