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Iraqi VP warns Iran against interference |
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Sunday, 20 May 2007 |
SHUNEH, Jordan (AFP) - Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi warned Iran on Sunday against interferring in his country to safeguard its own national security.
"Our role is to put pressure on Iran but I must be realistic about that. I know who's actually the troublemaker. Not only Iran and Syria and neighbouring countries. Many countries in fact," Hashemi said in Jordan.
"The Iraqi issue is becoming a threat to global stability and regional stability so everyone should be very careful about what is going on.
"For the benefit of the national security of Iran, Iran should not be tempted to interfere in my country. They should think seriously about that," Hashemi said on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum on the Middle East.
Asked about a meeting next week in Baghdad between US and Iranian envoys to discuss Iraq's security, Hashemi said: "At the end of the day I would like the Iranians to end their interference."
The May 28 meeting is believed to be the first official encounter at ambassador level between arch-foes Iran and the United States in three decades.
Washington accuses Shiite-majority Iran of stirring sectarian violence in Iraq and supplying Iraqi fighters with roadside bombs which have killed or maimed many US soldiers.
Iran denies the allegations and blames the US "occupiers" for the lack of security and instability in Iraq.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Saturday blamed Iraq's volatile security situtation on the US troop presence.
"Sooner or later they (US) have to decide to withdraw their troops from Iraq because that is the cause for the continuation of terrorist activities," Mottaki told delegates at the Dead Sea forum.
Jordan's King Abdullah II met separately on Saturday with Mottaki and Hashemi and warned that sectarian strife in Iraq threatens regional security, a palace statement said.
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