IRAQ: Chance encounters ahead of Ahmadinejad visit
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The U.S. says it won’t meet directly with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during his visit to Iraq on Sunday and Monday, but how about passing on some messages through a mutual friend?
On Saturday, the eve of Ahmadinejad’s visit, the U.S. and British ambassadors met separately with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani. The United Nations Security Council, led by the U.S. and Europe, is preparing to slap Iran with another set of sanctions over its nuclear program, maybe as soon as Monday. U.S. officials also accuse Iran of sending weapons to insurgent groups and militias in Iraq.
Talabani will play host to the Iranian president during his two-day visit.
Talabani’s handlers said he and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker talked Saturday about the recent Turkish offensive against Kurdish rebel forces in Iraq. The Iraqi president, a Kurd, was pleased by Turkey’s decision to pull its troops out of northern Iraq.
But some might wonder why they met now, after the incursion was already over.
The stated reason for Talabani’s visit with British ambassador Christopher Prentice was even more opaque: the kidnapping of British civilians in Iraq.
But Talabani, whose role is largely ceremonial, has little role in the day-to-day management of the security forces who could free the detainees.
Britain, along with France, is spearheading the drive for the latest round of sanctions against Iran.
Meanwhile, Iran’s ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Kazemi-Qomi, was live on Iranian television Saturday night. He told Iranians that Ahmadinejad’s visit was mostly about business — expanding trade across the Iran-Iraq frontier, setting up cross-border industrial parks, arranging technical exchanges, integrating banking systems and launching joint investment projects.
‘Iraq is based on free-market economy and we should think of Iran’s economic role in the long term, when Iraq is safe for investment,’ he told the interviewer.
— Borzou Daragahi in Baghdad and Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran