– While negotiating the formation of a new government, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Malik is visiting Tehran. The United States and Tehran are attempting to resolve the stalemate that has been blocking attempts to form a new government in Iraq since March. Both Tehran and Washington would approve of the out-going prime minister receiving a new mandate, in spite of the perplexities of many in the two main coalitions, the National Alliance led by Maliki and al-Iraqiyah led by Ayad Allawi. Teheran, criticized on this issue by Allawi, has always denied its desire to exercise influence over neighbouring Iraq’s political matters. “We do not interfere,” said last week in an interview the Ambassador to Baghdad Hassan Dana’I Fer, “and we hope that the problem will be resolved as quickly as possible. We have not posed any vetoes concerning the appointment of the prime minister”. Maliki’s meetings will also concern bilateral relations, complicated by the consequences of the war between the two countries but also encouraged by Iraq’s hope to reach the sum of $10 billion a year in commercial exchanges.
