Maliki visits Tehran, assures his hosts over American troop presence; US Senate Intelligence Committee: Bush overstated evidence on Hussein; Turkish General: Turkey and Iran have conducted coordinated strikes on Kurdish rebels
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Whatsapp
  • Linkedin
  • Print

    • Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited Tehran during the week and held talks with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, President Ahmadinejad, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie. While the Iranian side expressed concerns over the presence of American troops and the nature of the agreement being negotiated with Washington, Maliki on his part assured his hosts that Iraq would not be used to harm Iran’s security1.

    The United States on its part insisted that there would not be any secret deals in the pact being negotiated. Explicitly stating that the US was not interested in any long-term bases in the country, US Ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker told reporters in Washington on June 4 that the agreement with Baghdad would likely be finalised by the end of July2.

    The US Senate Intelligence Committee meanwhile released a report on June 5 which charged that President Bush had either exaggerated available intelligence or had ignored differences among agencies about Iraq’s weapons programs and Saddam Hussein’s links to Al Qaeda3.

    In other developments, a top Turkish General, Ilker Basbug has revealed that Ankara and Tehran had conducted coordinated strikes against Kurdish rebels in Iraq through the exchange of intelligence4.

    Even as reports indicated that US deaths in Iraq fell to their lowest levels since the 2003 invasion - with May accounting for the death of 19 soldiers compared to 52 in the earlier month, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) noted that nearly 25,000 people had returned to Baghdad due to the improved security situation after the security crackdown o Shiite militias5.

    Top