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TEHRAN - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran would do whatever it could to help provide security to Iraq amid warnings the country was on the brink of civil war.
Ahmadinejad made the pledge at the start of a visit to Iran by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, whose trip was delayed for two days because of a curfew imposed after a bombing last week killed 202 people in a Shi'ite Muslim stronghold. The curfew was lifted today.
The United States is facing calls to engage Tehran in direct dialogue to help end the bloodshed, which UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said had pushed Iraq closer to civil war.
"The Iranian nation and government will definitely stand beside their brother, Iraq, and any help the government and nation of Iran can give to strengthen security in Iraq will be given," Ahmadinejad said, Iran's ISNA news agency reported.
"We have no limitation for cooperation in any field."
Ahmadinejad was speaking shortly after Talabani's arrival and just before the two presidents held formal talks.
Talabani said he would discuss improving ties between the neighbours, which fought an eight-year war in the 1980s.
"In this trip, we will also talk about Iraq's security file because Iraq needs the comprehensive assistance of Iran to fight terrorism and create stability," ISNA quoted Talabani as saying.
Political analysts said Iran might try to use talks with Talabani to show off its influence to the United States and bolster its position ahead of any dialogue with its old enemy. They also said Iran's ability to stem the bloodshed was limited.
US officials say the violence is being fuelled by Iran's backing for Shi'ite groups and its weapons exports. Iran dismisses the charge.
The atmosphere in Baghdad was nervous as the curfew ended. Nerves frayed on fears of a new wave of blood-letting after Thursday's bombing -- the worst since the US invasion in 2003.
Annan, making a rare comment on the situation, said he believed Iraq was nearly in civil war -- something Iraqi and US politicians have refused to say despite mounting deaths.
"Given the developments on the ground, unless something is done drastically and urgently to arrest the deteriorating situation, we could be there. In fact we are almost there," Annan told reporters in response to a question.
The United Nations has been playing only a minor role in Iraq since the truck-bombing of its Baghdad headquarters in August 2003 in an attack that killed 22 people including Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN mission chief in the country.
Earlier, King Abdullah of Jordan, who will host a summit in Amman between Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and US President George W. Bush this week, said "something dramatic" must come out of it because Iraq was "beginning to spiral out of control".
Washington and Baghdad have scrambled for ways to end the bloodletting.
The New York Times said a draft report to be debated by the Iraq Study Group, co-chaired by former secretary of state James Baker and which is preparing eagerly awaited proposals on a new direction in Iraq, would urge an aggressive regional diplomatic initiative to include direct talks with Iran and Syria.
The group's recommendations will be sent to the White House, which is considering a change in strategy in Iraq to allow it to start pulling out some of its 140,000 troops.
Britain, America's main ally in Iraq, said today it hoped to withdraw thousands of troops by December 2007, while Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said the last Italian troops would leave next month.
But Poland appeared to push back the deadline for withdrawal of his country's 900 troops from Iraq, saying the force would leave by the end of 2007, not by mid-2007 as previously stated.
- REUTERS
