Zabari: Security deal with US respects Iran's sovereignty (Roundup)

Nov 18, 2008, 13:41 GMT

Baghdad - Iraq has told Iran that its security pact with the United States would not threaten Iran's national sovereignty, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Tuesday.

'The security agreement has no articles that threaten the security of neighbouring countries,' Zebari said in a statement following his meeting with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Kazemi.

'Iraq will not be used as a base for attacks on neighbouring countries,' Zebari added.

Zebari and US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker signed the so-called Status of Forces Agreement in Baghdad on Monday.

Iran has opposed the deal, with sets the legal basis for the future presence of US troops in Iraq after a United Nations Security Council mandate expires at the end of the year. The agreement sets December 31, 2011 as the deadline for the complete withdrawal of US troops. More than 140,000 US troops are currently stationed in Iraq.

Zebari said the Iraqi government will send delegates to neighbouring countries to explain the security agreement.

Last week Zebari, during a visit to Syria, assured Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem that Iraq will not be used as a base for attacks inside Syria, after the US conducted a commando raid on a Syrian village last month leaving eight civilians dead.

Iran and other neighbouring countries fear that the US could conduct similar operations in the future.

Separately on Tuesday, a car bomb killed one person and injured 16 in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, a security source told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The bomb exploded near a gas station in Senoun district in north-west of the city, the source said.

US forces have withdrawn from most of Iraq's cities as violence decreases. Violence in Mosul has remained a challenge for US troops.