BAGHDAD, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- After warming relations with Syria, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani announced he will travel to Tehran to meet Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The move falls in line with a recent push by the U.S. government for Iraq's neighbors to become more involved with helping the new Iraqi government quell deadly insurgency that is slowing its reconstruction.
However, a presidential spokesman denied media reports that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad would also attend, the Financial Times reported.
"President Jalal Talabani has plans to go to Tehran this weekend to meet with President Ahmadinejad. There is no talk of a trilateral summit," said spokesman Hiwa Osman.
Various western intelligence agencies allege that Iran has been supplying Shiite militia training and weapons to Iraq, while Syria was doing the same thing for Sunni Muslims in Iraq.
In response to this week's rapid regional diplomatic thaw, international pressure is now mounting on the Bush administration to open its own dialogue with Syria and Iran as part of the effort to restore stability in Iraq, the Times said.
