(17 Jul 2005)
1. Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari arrives in Boostan palace, north of Tehran, to meet Kamal Kharrazi, Iran's Foreign Minister
2. Al-Jaafari (on the left) and Kharrazi shake hands
3. Close-up al-Jaafari
4. Various of al-Jaafari and Kharrazi and both delegations
5. Reporters and cameramen covering the meeting
6. Various of delegations and al-Jaafari and Kharrazi
7. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Kamal Kharrazi, Iranian Foreign Minister
"Supporting the Iraqi government is a part of Iran's policies. We have voiced our readiness to offer any support to the Iraqi government so that they can solve their existing problems and they can write their constitution and hold elections to approve it. We will continue to offer our support until they can lower their security concerns."
8. Kharrazi leaving the palace
STORYLINE:
Iran has promised that it will do what it can to help curb violence in Iraq and cooperate more closely on security during an historic visit to Tehran by Iraq's visiting Shiite prime minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.
Jaafari is in Iran to promote stronger ties between his US-allied government and Iran, which considers the United States its primary enemy.
On Sunday, he met outgoing Iranian President Mohammad Khatami and is expected to meet supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and went on to meet Mohsen Ahmadinejad, the hard-line president-elect, before he returns home later this week.
Ahmadinejad will replace the reformist Khatami early next month and pursue the same line of closer ties with Iraq's government, though he may put more pressure on the US to withdraw American forces from Iraq.
Jaafari's own ties with Iran are already strong. He spent more than two decades in exile there prior to Saddam's fall as a leader of the Islamic Dawa Party and remained there until 1990, organising cross-border attacks while studying Shiite theology in the city of Qom.
It seems likely the two nations - who fought a 1980-88 war that killed more than one (m) million people on both sides - will sign a security agreement.
Some Sunni Arab leaders, including the king of Jordan, have voiced fears over the emergence of a Shiite-led Iraqi government with close ties to Iran. They suggest it could lead to the creation of a "Shiite crescent" in the Gulf region which would, in turn, unsettle political and social balances.
Iran has in the meantime highlighted its own efforts against terrorism and al-Qaida militants on its soil and pointed out that many arrests have been made.
Iran's Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi said on Saturday that Iranian authorities had detained and deported 2,000 to 3,000 al-Qaida members since late 2001.
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