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Iraqi President Talabani begins Iran visit
21.11.2005
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TEHRAN – Iraqi
President Jalal Talabani was to pay a landmark visit
to Iran on Monday, the first by an Iraqi head of
state in nearly four decades.
Iranian officials said Talabani was to spend three
days in the Islamic republic for a series of
high-level talks focusing mainly on security issues.
He is scheduled to meet hardline President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, top national security official Ali
Larijani and Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
Iranian media said he may also meet supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The last Iraqi head of state to tour Iran was Abdel
Rahman Aref, Iraq's president between 1966 and 1968.
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Iraqi
President : Jalal Talabani
Photo: Reuters |
The two neighbours fought a devastating war from
1980-88, after former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein
attempted a land grab in the wake of Iran's Islamic
revolution.
Ties between Iran and Iraq's new authorities have
been relatively close, with Baghdad's new government
dominated by Kurdish figures like Talabani and
Shiites once backed by Tehran during Saddam's rule.
But relations remain clouded by allegations of
Iranian support for insurgents fighting US and
British troops in Iraq. Iran denies meddling, and
blames the violence on the very presence of foreign
forces.
Talabani's visit comes hot on the heels of a trip to
Tehran by Iraqi national security adviser Muwaffaq
Rubaie, who last week signed a memorandum of
understanding with Larijani covering cooperation in
the fight against terrorism and the facilitation of
visits to Iraq by Iranian pilgrims.
Iran is predominantly a Shiite Muslim country, and
Iraq, which has a majority Shiite population, is
home to six major Shiite shrines.
AFP
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