Iraqi President Jalal Talabani arrived for talks in Iran on Monday amid growing calls for Washington to engage Tehran in dialogue to help stop Iraq sliding into civil war. Talabani's trip had been delayed because of a curfew imposed on Baghdad following a bomb attack on Thursday that killed 200 Shia Muslims. The curfew was lifted on Monday.
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 said Talabani, who speaks Farsi fluently after years of contacts with Iran when in opposition to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, could press Iran to stop seeing Iraq as a battleground in its three-decade-old fight with Washington. Iran's Fars News Agency said Talabani arrived for talks with top Iranian officials and would also sign bilateral agreements.
An Iranian official earlier told Reuters Talabani would go straight into talks with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after arriving and would leave on Tuesday after talks with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's highest authority. Asked last week what his talks in Tehran would cover, Talabani told Iranian state television: "Strengthening relations and Iraq's security."
He said then he would be accompanied by Iraq's oil, industry and technology ministers, and probably Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari. The visit is the latest of a series of contacts. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited Tehran in September and secured a pledge of support for his government from Tehran.
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