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Iraq is not a proxy battleground: PM Maliki
Iraq's prime minister, who started a visit to Iran on Saturday, told Iranian state television his government would not allow Iraq to be used as a base to threaten its neighbors. Nouri al-Maliki--on a two-day visit during which he will meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki--said to Iran's Arabic news channel that he "will not let Iraq be a launching ground to threaten any country," Al-Alam said on its website.Ministerial members of Maliki's delegation immediately went into talks with their Iranian commerce, power and transportation counterparts, the official IRNA news agency said. U.S. forces in Iraq came under Iraqi mandate on Jan. 1, a move Maliki said restored sovereignty nearly six years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. Analysts say any U.S. attack against Iran would most likely involve air strikes rather than any land invasion. Washington used its bases in regional countries to attack Iraq in 2003. Washington and Tehran have traded accusations about who is responsible for violence in Iraq. U.S. officials say Tehran backs Iraqi militants. Tehran blames the presence of U.S. forces and says they should withdraw from Iraq and the whole region. Posted by: Fred 2009-01-04 |
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