Iraqi premier meets with Iranian leaders (Roundup)

Oct 18, 2010, 16:29 GMT

Tehran/ Basra, Iraq - Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki arrived in Tehran on Monday for a day of talks with Iranian officials on regional and international issues including the current political stalemate in Baghdad, Fars news agency reported.

Al-Maliki met with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi.

They reportedly discussed al-Maliki's bid for a second term in office against the Sunni-backed bloc of former prime minister Iyad Allawi.

Other Iraqi leaders have also paid visits to regional powers in recent months to discuss Baghdad's political stalemate after elections on March 7. The poll failed to produce an outright winner and consensus on the formation of a new government has still not been found.

Ahmadinejad told the Iraqi premier he hoped that after a new government had been formed, 'the ruins in Iraq will be restored and welfare returned to the people,' according to Fars.

'Iran welcomes a united, powerful and independent Iraq and will support the country in every possible way,' Ahmadinejad said.

'Brotherly bonds between the regional states can not only enable them to run their countries by themselves but also make the region undefeatable,' the president added.

The Iraqi premier also met with Ayatollah Khamenei who called on Iraq to speed up the formation of its new government, state television reported.

'All Iraqi officials should focus their efforts on speeding up formation of the new government in order to strengthen the country's security and start the reconstruction process,' said Khameinei, who has the final say on all state affairs according to the constitution.

Shiite Iran favours al-Maliki's Shiite alliance, but has shown itself to be open to any Iraqi government which could return peace and stability to Iraq.

'Iraq is safer than before but there is still insecurity, part of which is due to the presence of world powers there,' Khamenei said. 'May God make the United States get out of Iraq as soon as possible and put an end to the people's problems.'

During al-Maliki's meeting with the vice president both men stressed the importance of upgrading bilateral ties.

'Iran will spare no effort in aiding Iraq in its reconstruction process and will pay the same attention to Iraq's security and development as to its own,' Rahimi said.

Al-Maliki said his country needed the cooperation of all neighbouring countries in its development process and expected Iran to have a bigger role in this regard.

Meanwhile, the secretary general of al-Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party said the prime minister was also expected to meet with Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Tehran.

'Arrangements were made before al-Maliki left for Tehran for a meeting with Muqtada al-Sadr to discuss the process of forming the new Iraqi government,' Hashim al-Mussawi told the German Press Agency dpa.

Iranian media has not yet reported such a meeting.

The Iran-based al-Sadr and his followers, who won 40 seats in the Iraqi elections, have announced that they supported al-Maliki's bid for another term in office, although for months prior to that they had declared their opposition to his nomination.

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