Maliki, on Iran Visit, Seeks to Lower Tensions

By Andrew E. Kramer

Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq, seeking to soothe Iranian opposition to a long-term American military presence in his country, assured officials during a meeting in Tehran on Sunday that American bases in Iraq would never be used to attack Iran.

Maliki met Sunday with the Iranian vice president, Parviz Davoudi, to offer the assurances, Iranian news agencies reported, according to Reuters.

Davoudi, in turn, said Iran was working to support stability in Iraq.

“Helping the establishment of security in Iraq has always been one of Iran’s main policies,” he said, according to IRNA, the main Iranian news agency.

Maliki met later Sunday with President Mahmoud Amadinejad for talks on the proposed long-term security pact with the United States, called a Status of Forces Agreement.

Even as Maliki met with officials in Tehran, the U.S. military issued a statement saying that soldiers had captured a senior Iranian-backed Shiite militia leader who had smuggled fighters in and out of Iran for training.

Maliki, the leader of a Shiite political party that took refuge in Iran during the rule of Saddam Hussein, has taken a less adversarial position than the United States on Iranian support for Shiite militias in Baghdad and southern Iraq.

Still, Maliki was expected to present evidence of Iranian influence in Iraq, the state newspaper, Al Sabah, reported before he departed. It was unclear whether Maliki, armed with this evidence, would argue that diminished Iranian support for the insurgency could be rewarded with a diminished long-term American military presence in Iraq.

American soldiers raiding a house in eastern Baghdad on Sunday captured a man they characterized as weapons dealer and leader of an “assassination squad” of Iranian-backed militants. In a statement, the U.S. military said the man, who was not identified, was an arms dealer and trafficked militiamen in and out of neighboring Iran for training.

The U.S. military regularly announces the detention of militia fighters it says are operating with Iranian support. The Iranian authorities deny that they have a hand in the fighting.

In violence in Iraq on Sunday, a vehicle driven by a suicide bomber blew up near a patrol base in Kirkuk Province, killing one U.S. soldier and wounding 18, according to a Reuters report that quoted U.S. forces.

The attack came a day after a roadside bomb killed a U.S. soldier in eastern Baghdad, the U.S. military said. An additional 13 American soldiers were wounded in the attack.

A mortar shell struck near the American-controlled Green Zone in Baghdad on Sunday, killing three people and wounding another seven.

Three roadside bombs targeting Iraqi police patrols and a police recruiting center in Baghdad killed 4 policemen and recruits and wounded 33 policemen and bystanders, officials said.

In northern Iraq, gunmen opened fire on a police patrol in Mosul, killing three policemen. Southeast of Baghdad, gunmen killed five shepherds in a field.

Originally published by The New York Times Media Group.

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