June 09, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 04, 1429

TEHRAN, June 8: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Sunday sought to ease Iranian fears over a proposed US-Iraq security deal, saying his government would not allow Iraq to become a launching pad for an attack on Iran.

Al-Maliki, on his second visit to Iran this year, met President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials, reassuring them that the security pact, which Washington and Baghdad hope to finish by mid-summer, would not be a danger to Iran.

“A stable Iraq will be a benefit to the security of the region and the world,” al-Maliki told Ahmadinejad in their talks, according to the Iranian president’s website. Al-Maliki also appeared to signal that Tehran would not be squeezed out by any agreement, saying Iraq’s “development and stability will be provided through more bilateral cooperation” with Iran.

Ahmadinejad, in turn, underlined that Iran had a key role in Iraq’s security. “The responsibility of (Iraq’s) neighbours is doubled in this regard,” he said.

The Iranian president hinted at concerns that the security agreement would mean US domination in Iraq. “Iraq must reach a certain level of stability so that its enemies are not able to impose their influence,” he said, without specifically mentioning the deal.

Iran fiercely opposes the US-Iraq security agreement, saying it will lead to permanent American bases on its doorstep in Iraq, reflecting Tehran’s fears that US forces could attack it. Last week, powerful Iranian politician Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said the deal would “enslave” Iraqis and vowed it would not be permitted to be passed.

An aide to al-Maliki said the prime minister was offering assurances in the talks that the US presence in his country was no threat to Iran. But he would also complain about Iran’s public campaign against the agreement as interference in Iraq’s internal affairs, the aide said on condition of anonymity.In another issue riling ties between Baghdad and Tehran, al-Maliki is like to raise the US allegations that Iran is arming, funding and training Shia militiamen in Iraq.

Iran has denied the charges, saying it supports Iraq’s security and stability.

On Sunday, the US military in Iraq said it had captured a militant who ran an “assassination squad” in the southern city of Basra and was responsible from trafficking extremists in and out of Iran.

Al-Maliki’s government has always been an ally of Tehran, and the Shia and Kurdish parties that dominate it have longstanding close ties with the Iranian leadership.

But the US accusations of Iranian help to Shia militiamen have strained those ties – and the tensions have grown amid the negotiations over the security deal, which aims to establish a long-term security arrangement between Washington and Baghdad.

After talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Saturday evening, al-Maliki sought to ease Iranian opposition, saying the Baghdad government would not allow Iraq to become a launching pad for “harming” Iran, the state broadcaster said on its website.—AP