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CORRECTED: Iranian foreign minister arrives in Baghdad

Posted on: Friday, 26 May 2006, 03:09 CDT

In BAGHDAD story headlined "Iranian foreign minister arrives in Baghdad," please read in first paragraph ... for talks with Iraqi officials ... .

A corrected repetition follows.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki arrived in Baghdad on Friday for talks with Iraqi officials in the second high-level visit since Saddam Hussein was toppled in 2003.

The former Iraqi president fought a bloody war with Iran in the 1980s but his Shi'ite successors, many of whom were exiled in Iran, have established warm relations with Tehran.

The visit, which was postponed for several days until a new Iraqi government was formed, aims to show backing for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, a Shi'ite Islamist who has formed a national unity cabinet including Sunni Arabs and Kurds, officials said.

Former Iranian foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi visited Iraq in May 2005.

Some Iraqi politicians belonging to the Sunni minority have accused Iran of fostering instability through militias loyal to Shi'ite parties and stoking sectarian tensions to break up Iraq in order to control its oil-rich Shi'ite Muslim heartlands in the south.

Iran has denied the accusations.

(Baghdad newsroom)

Source: REUTERS

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