Iraq's interim deputy prime minister, Barham Saleh, arrived in Tehran Sunday on a mission from his US-backed government to press Iran to stop interfering in its neighbour's affairs.
"We have to start building clear and frank relations based on not interfering in the two countries' internal affairs," Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said in an interview broadcast by Iraqi public television late Saturday.
Saleh will "present the facts to our brothers in the Iranian leadership and clarify some misunderstandings so that relations are based on love and brotherhood," Allawi said. "There are negative elements and tensions which run contrary to the interests of both countries."
Iran has denied it is interfering, and foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters that officials here would focus the discussions on "Iranian nationals who are captive in Iraq".
An Iranian diplomat, Fereydun Jahani, went missing on August 4 on the road from Baghdad to the Shiite pilgrimage city of Karbala where Tehran was set to open a consulate.