Aren't you thrilled we're there? Iraq Says It Backs Iran...

[Ed 2001 SS]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...top_world_news

Iraq Says It Backs Iran's Right to Nuclear Program (Update1)

May 26 (Bloomberg) -- Iraq supports Iran's right to use nuclear technology for peaceful means and wants a diplomatic solution to the standoff between the Islamic Republic and the U.S. over uranium enrichment, the Iraqi foreign minister said.

``In our view the Islamic Republic has the right to have nuclear technology as long as it is for peaceful means,'' Hoshyar Zebari said today in a press conference from Baghdad broadcast live by Dubai, United Arab Emirates-based al-Arabiya television station.

Zebari was speaking after meeting Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, who ruled out holding direct talks with the U.S. to resolve the standoff over the Iranian uranium enrichment program.

U.S. President George W. Bush and U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair, supporters of the new Iraqi government, are at the forefront of western criticism of Iran's nuclear program.

Iran is under increasing pressure from the U.S. and Europe to abandon its nuclear program, which the Islamic Republic says is aimed at producing electricity and isn't a cover for developing atomic weapons.

The United Nations Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany met in London on May 24 to discuss incentives offered by France, the U.K. and Germany to encourage Iran to stop enriching uranium.

Mottaki's Concerns

Mottaki expressed concern over Iran's security because of the presence of U.S.-led troops in Iraq, where some 130,000 American troops are deployed as part of a coalition that numbers about 150,000.

This is the highest-level visit by an Iranian official to Iraq since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won Iran's elections in June last year, Agence France-Presse reported. Mottaki's visit follows the promotion of Iranian charge d'affairs, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, in Baghdad to an ambassador, the first between the two countries since the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. The war left more than 1 million dead.

Mottaki said Iran is keen to see the new Iraqi government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki succeed. On May 20, Al-Maliki won parliamentary approval for his new cross-party cabinet.



To contact the reporter on this story:
Dania Saadi in Cairo at dsaadi2@bloomberg.net


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Talk about a slap in the face.

"Thank you Sir. May I have another?"

[beardman2]

isn't the official us position that we don't mind them have reactors etc as long as someone else (Russia) does the gives them the material?

[Son of Norway]

So now Iran wants to have diplomatic talks about their nuclear programs. That's good.

Our position is "We'll talk when you stop your nuclear programs and if you don't, we'll call for sanctions!"

Well, if Iran stops the nuclear program, what's left to discuss? Our foreign policy leaders have a way of painting themselves into a corner. I would not trust Russia and China to give unwavering support to the U.S. on this either. Right now Iran has enough nuclear technology to make glow-in-the-dark watches. I don't see why we can't broker this through diplomatic channels, but now that we've stated our position, we've sort of removed that option.