Iran aims to ease Iraqi-Syrian tensions

TEHRAN, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Iran will push diplomatic efforts to ease tensions between its "friends" in Iraq and Syria following an August terrorist attack in Baghdad, officials said.

Iraq and Syria had moved closer together in the years following the U.S-led invasion in 2003. Bilateral tensions resurfaced, however, following an Aug. 19 bombing in Baghdad that killed more than 100 people and injured perhaps thousands.

Baghdad blames Damascus for harboring Baath Party supporters, who Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said coordinated the attacks.

Al-Qaida in Iraq issued its own separate claims of responsibility for the attacks. Nevertheless, Maliki has asked the United Nations to conduct an investigation into to the Aug. 19 bombings.

"The scope and nature of these crimes calls for an investigation beyond Iraqi legal jurisdiction and prosecution of the perpetrators before a special international criminal tribunal," he said in letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Saeed Jalili, the secretary of the National Security Council in Iran, said it would launch its own independent campaign to ease regional tensions, state-funded broadcaster Press TV reports.

"Syria and Iraq are our friends and we will try to restore friendly relations between these two countries," he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki made officials visits to Damascus and Baghdad recently to help restore calm as well.