Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (right) and Iraqi President Jalal Talabani (left) are all smiles after a press briefing in Tehran yesterday. - REUTERS
TEHRAN, (Reuters):
JALAL TALABANI, the first Iraqi president to visit Iran for nearly four decades, received assurances yesterday that Tehran supported its neighbour's transition to democracy.
Shi'ite Muslim Iran has repeatedly been accused of meddling in post-war Iraq, with Western and Iraqi officials charging Iran with allowing weapons and insurgents to cross its borders.
But Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said such accusations were unfounded and voiced by those who did not want better ties between Baghdad and Tehran, who fought each other to a standstill in a 1980-1988 war.
"Such accusations will definitely not affect the expansion of relations between Iran and Iraq," he told reporters after a meeting with Talabani, the first Iraqi leader to visit Tehran since the late 1960s. "A popular, independent and developed Iraq will be the best friend of the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said.
He added: "We totally support the political process that the Iraqi nation is undergoing that will ... guarantee its territorial integrity, independence and progress.
Talabani, who will meet Iran's foreign minister and top security official today, said his visit was aimed at strengthening political and commercial ties.
"We are sure that we will enjoy the Iranian government's cooperation in our struggle against terrorism," said Talabani, accompanied by National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie.
