Iraq FM in Surprise Visit to Neighbouring Iran

09/02/2003| IslamWeb

Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri arrived in the Iranian capital for an unscheduled 24-hour visit.Sabri, who received a frosty reception on his last visit here in September, headed straight into talks with his Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharazi, the official IRNA news agency said Sunday.The Iraqi foreign minister had been due to visit Iran early last month, but the trip was cancelled amid protests.Sabri's talks with Kharazi come hot on the heels of a European tour by the Iranian foreign minister in which he held talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, a leading supporter of US war threats against Iraq.

The Iraqi minister was due to fly home Monday morning, Iranian officials told AFP.

An Iranian foreign ministry source said Sabri's visit signalled Iraq's desire to know where Iran stood only days after US President George W. Bush warned Iraqi President Saddam Hussein the "game was over" against the backdrop of a US military buildup in the Gulf of more than 100,000 troops.

Iran, which tangled with Baghdad in its own bloody 1980-1988 war, has called on all disarmament efforts to go through the United Nations.

But it has also told Baghdad to fully comply with the UN arms inspectors who returned to the country in November seeking to ward off a war over Iraq's alleged banned weapons.

Iran, also a foe of the United States, has said it seeks an "active neutrality" concerning the Iraq crisis.

In line with this policy, Kharazi told reporters in London Thursday that the world must push for a second UN Security Council resolution before any attack on Iraq.

Kharazi said the situation was at a "crossroads and that a second resolution would be imminent in the Security Council, and in some sense probably would be helpful."

If war breaks out, Tehran worries Iraq's northern Kurds could try to set up a breakaway state, inspiring unrest among Iran's own Kurdish population.

Iran is also braced for the possibility of a massive exodus of Iraqi refugees along its 904 mile (1,454 kilometer) border with Iraq.

PHOTO CAPTION

Naji Sabri