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Tehran: Iran told Iraq's prime minister yesterday it was helping establish security in Iraq, where the US military accuses Tehran of fomenting instability by training and supplying militants.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki, in Iran for talks with senior officials, is facing mounting pressure to secure a power sharing deal among Iraq's warring sects before a US report in September on strategy there.
But his government is crumbling, with almost half the cabinet ministers quitting or boycotting meetings, and the death toll from sectarian killings steadily climbing.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has always made a special effort to help provide and strengthen security in Iraq," Iranian Vice-President Parviz Davoudi said in talks with Maliki, the official Irna news agency reported.
Al Maliki's visit comes two days after Iraqi, Iranian and US officials held the first meeting of a committee aimed at improving cooperation on stabilising Iraq.
Shared interests
That committee was formed after groundbreaking talks in May and July, also in Baghdad, between Washington and Tehran, their most high-profile meetings since diplomatic ties were cut shortly after Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. Ali Akbar Velayati, an international affairs adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said those talks had shown that Iran "can play an influential role in Iraq."
"Today they [US officials] are forced ... to ask for Iran's help, but these negotiations are not aimed at helping America. Iran entered talks to help the Iraqi people," he said, according to Iran's Isna news agency.
Iraqi government spokes-man Ali Al Dabbagh said the visit aimed to boost agreements making Iran "a positive base" in support of Iraq.
The prime minister held private one-on-one talks on security isses with Ali Larijani, the powerful secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, an aide to Al Maliki said.
"We want to promote economic ties and other ties that contribute to combating terrorism and its challenges," Al Maliki told The Associated Press on the plane to Iran.
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