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Iraqi Prez seeks Iran’s help
Iraqi President Jalal Talabani was due to visit Iran on Monday amid growing calls for Washington to engage Teheran in dialogue to help stop Iraq sliding into civil war.Talabani’s trip had been delayed because of a curfew imposed on Baghdad following a bomb attack on Thursday that killed 200 Shiite Muslims. The curfew was lifted on Monday.
Political analysts said Iran might try to use talks with Talabani to show off its influence to the US and bolster its position ahead of any dialogue with its old enemy.They said Talabani, who speaks Farsi fluently after years of contacts with Iran when in opposition to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, could press Iran to stop seeing Iraq as a battleground in its three-decade-old fight with Washington. Iranian officials said Talabani was expected to arrive later on Monday but did not give any details about the planned talks. Asked last week what his talks in Teheran would cover, Talabani told Iranian state television: “Strengthening relations and Iraq’s security.â€
He had said at the time he would be accompanied by Iraq’s oil, industry and technology ministers, and probably foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari.The visit is the latest of a series of contacts. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri AlMaliki visited Teheran in September and secured a pledge of support for his government from Teheran.Iran’s outspokenly anti-American President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday Iran was ready to help the US in Iraq but only if it pledged to pull its troops out.Iran had invited Syrian President Bashar Al Assad to the talks, but Syria did not respond.