|
Iran offers Iraq security help
12/09/2006 18:16 - (SA)
Tehran - Iran offered on Tuesday to help
establish security and stability in Iraq after Iraqi Prime
Minister Nuri al-Maliki held talks in Tehran on his first
official visit to the Islamic Republic.
Maliki's aides said he would tell fellow Shi'ite Islamist
leaders in Iran that Tehran should not interfere in Iraqi
affairs, a message likely to please Washington which accuses
Iran of backing militants fighting US troops in Iraq.
But Maliki and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave
few details about their talks on Tuesday, except to say that the
two neighbours which fought a bloody war in the 1980s had agreed
to co-operate in political, economic and security fields.
"We will give our full assistance to the Iraqi government to
establish security in (Iraq). Strengthening security in Iraq
means strengthening security and stability in the region,"
Ahmadinejad told a joint news conference after their meeting.
Maliki, speaking through a Persian translator, said: "This
visit will be useful for co-operation between Iran and Iraq, in
all political, security and economic fields." Interference
The two sides signed an agreement covering these areas.
Shortly before starting the two-day visit, Iraqi government
spokesperson Ali al-Dabbagh told Reuters Maliki would deliver a
blunt message that Iran should not interfere in Iraq although he
stopped short of endorsing US charges of Iranian "meddling".
"We want to pass a message to the Iranian leaders that Iraq
needs good relations with neighbouring countries, without
interference in our internal affairs," Dabbagh said.
"We understand that the violence in Iraq is being fed and
financed by others. "Some of them are countries, some are groups
... We'd like neighbouring countries to share in stopping such
things coming to Iraq," Dabbagh said.
- Reuters
|
News
