Iraqi Vice President Tarek al-Hashemi said the conflict with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki continued but a statement from the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said the disputes weren't of a personal nature.

Hashemi, the leader of the Sunni Accordance Front Party, said in a statement that his party was unlikely to return to the government while conflicts continued with the Shiite-led majority.

Maliki, head of the Shiite Islamic Dawa Party, said in earlier statements that he hoped the six members of the Accordance Front, as well as Kurdish officials, would return to the central government, but Hashemi is saying the differences stem from the direction Iraq is headed and not power-sharing arrangements.