Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki arrived in Tehran on Saturday evening at the head of a delegation and was welcomed by First Vice President Parviz Davoudi at Mehrabad International Airport.
Maliki’s visit to Tehran is expected to take relations between the two neighboring countries into a new era of closer cooperation.
Perhaps at first glimpse, Maliki’s visit to Iran looks routine and some may even perceive it as a response to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s tour of Baghdad a few months ago. However, the truth is that the current visit is different from the regular exchange of officials between the two countries.
Maliki’s government plays a key role in the arenas of diplomacy and security, and its decisions will have a dramatic impact on the country’s political future.
After the lapse of four years since the occupation of Iraq, the current year is crucial for the country. At present, Iraqi statesmen have prepared a list of key issues, each of which can overshadow foreign trade, defense affairs, domestic politics and international relations.
In this list, one can see the issue of mobilizing the Police Force, establishing an independent Iraqi Army, nationwide elections, national unity plan, coalition Cabinet, security pact with the US and so on. The foreign policy of new Iraq also requires extensive negotiations. How the Iraqi statesmen set their priorities for cooperation with other countries is also a heated subject of debate.
Foreign relations have posed a challenge to Iraqi officials in the past four years. Since the ouster of Saddam, the Iraqi government remains boycotted by Arab governments.
Furthermore, the current friendly ties between Iraq and Iran are envied by many Arab countries.
In fact, two decades after the end of the Iraq-imposed war (1980-8), which was rooted in fanaticism of certain Arab circles, radical Arabs still stick to the outdated tactic of causing a rift between Iran and Iraq. What is worse, these Arab circles are willing to accept the occupation of Iraq by foreign forces, but not endorse its cordial ties with Iran--which has backed Iraq whole-heartedly ever since the fall of Saddam and helps the reconstruction of Iraq.
Hence, Maliki’s visit, which is aimed at consolidating bilateral ties, conveys the message that ethnic biases and American pressures do not affect Iraq’s foreign policy guidelines and priorities.
The visit can put an end to all ambiguities surrounding the security pact pushed by the Americans.
At any rate, new developments in Tehran-Baghdad bonds should not be restricted to politics.
In addition to political initiatives taken for removing misunderstandings and building up cultural trust, the two countries have important economic projects on their agendas, the implementation of which can lead to a new round of convergence in this volatile part of the Persian Gulf.
In fact, the foundation for economic cooperation was laid during Ahmadinejad’s tour of Iraq in March during which Iran granted Iraq $1 billion in loan for rebuilding the country.
Maliki’s visit is expected to include discussions on important topics such as cooperation in the fields of oil and gas, joint ventures, establishment of joint border and customs offices, construction of power plants and, last but not the least, execution of the 1975 Algiers Accord.

The United States is threatening the Iraqi government into signing a military agreement by holding hostage some $50 billion of Iraq’s money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, The Independent reported on Friday.
American negotiators are using the existence of $20 billion in outstanding court judgments against Iraq in the United States to pressure their Iraqi counterparts into accepting the terms of the military deal which was seen by many Iraqis as prolonging the US occupation indefinitely.
In talks with the Iraqi side, US negotiators have suggested that if the UN mandate, under which the money is held, lapses and is not replaced by the new agreement, Iraq’s foreign reserves, currently protected by a US presidential order giving them immunity from judicial attachment, would then lose this immunity, and the cost to Iraq of this happening would be the immediate loss of $20 billion, the British daily said.
The US negotiators said the price of Iraq escaping the UN Charter’s Chapter Seven, under which Iraq is still considered a threat to international security and stability, is to sign up to a new “strategic alliance“ with the United States, according to the report.
The daily said the threat by the American side underlines the personal commitment of President George Bush to pushing the new pact through by July 31.
Iraqi critics of the agreement say that it means Iraq will be a client state in which the US will keep more than 50 military bases. American forces will be able to carry out arrests of Iraqi citizens and conduct military campaigns without consultation with the Iraqi government. American soldiers and contractors will enjoy legal immunity.
The United States has now 151,000 soldiers in Iraq.

Italy’s military intelligence service, known as Sismi, hosted a secret meeting between US officials and representatives of anti-Iran forces in Rome seven years ago for launching a coup against Iran.
According to IRNA, the Italian newspaper La Repubblica also wrote that the three-day meeting in 2001 forecast that the US would invest millions of dollars for advancing the coup.
In its 52-page report released on Friday, the US Senate Intelligence Committee unveiled that Pentagon had sent two high-ranking officials to Rome to discuss the coup against Tehran. However, the report only mentions that a foreign intelligence service hosted the meeting and there is no mention of Sismi.
The US weekly Newsweek says Sismi was led by Nicolo Pollari during the former government of Silvio Berlusconi.
In the nearly three decades since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, almost all American anti-Iran plans have been defeated. Berlusconi, who is also presently Italy’s prime minister, is among the close friends and supporters of George W. Bush. He has been seriously criticized by various sections of the Italian mass media and political parties for his cordial bonds with Bush.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei on Friday attended a ceremony to commemorate the martyrdom anniversary of Hazrat Fatemeh Zahra (SA), the distinguished daughter of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).