Monday, March 12, 2007

Hashemi meets with Ahmedinejad

Is it just me, or does anybody else think these guys are acting?

Iraqi VP Meets Iranian President
Hashemi, Ahmedinijad Held Talks Monday
Posted 0 hr. 33 min. ago
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad welcomes Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi during a meeting in Tehran Monday.
Photo by Behrouz Mehri/AFP.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad welcomes Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi during a meeting in Tehran Monday.
Iraq's Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, met with Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Monday.

Iran's IRNA reports that in remarks following the meeting, Ahmadinejad said that "We are concerned about current security situation in Iraq more than anybody else," adding that stability in Iraq and Iran was like a "concrete dam" before "enemies' conspiracies" that seek to sow chaos and sectarian discord in the region.

Al-Hashemi is reported to have said, "We believe the current difficult situation in Iraq could be solved through cooperation of neighboring countries, especially by Iran's active role, while those countries which are alien to Iraqi culture cannot settle the problems and only double them by continuation of occupation."

The Iraqi VP also expressed support for Iran's civilian nuclear program, IRNA reports. "Islamic and regional countries must have a strategic approach to Iran's access to the peaceful nuclear technology," the agency quotes al-Hashemi as saying. IRNA reports that he added that the Islamic community must have access to peaceful nuclear technology in the 21st century.

Further details of the meeting have not yet appeared, and it will be wise not to rely entirely on official Iranian accounts of the event.

Al-Hashemi arrived in Tehran from Syria where he had held talks with senior Syrian officials, and during a news conference in Syria, the vice president had expressed concern about Iranian interference in Iraq's internal affairs.

"I will convey my country's sufferings to Iranian officials and talk with them, hoping that Iran will be a supporter of the Iraqi people," he said in Syria.

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