Iran Urges Closer Defense Ties With Iraq

In Iraq, officials expressed similar sentiments. "Maliki will try in his trip to remove the ideas in the Iranian minds that this agreement will give the United States the right to interfere in Iranian issues from Iraqi lands," said Adnan al-Dulaimi, leader of the largest Sunni bloc in parliament. "But I doubt that Maliki will be able to convince the Iranians because they are stubborn and reject anything that doesn't match their strategies."

Iranian analyst Rahman Ghahremanpour at the Center for Strategic Studies in Tehran said Iranian officials are worried about what the plan might contain.

"We have genuine concerns about Iraq's future," he said. "This pact may be bad for the Iran-Iraq relationship."

Iraq and Iran fought a brutal eight-year war in the 1980s during which the U.S. government sided with the Iraqi forces of Saddam Hussein. But after the fall of Hussein's government in April 2003, Iran was the first country to recognize the new U.S.-installed administration and to open an embassy in Baghdad.

The Bush administration accuses Iran of meddling in Iraqi affairs, supporting militias and supplying insurgents with weapons and training, which Iranian authorities have long denied. Economic relations between the two are strong, and Iran is one of Iraq's primary trading partners. Both countries are majority Shiite, and ties between their clerics have grown in recent years.

Zeidabadi, the journalist, said Iran's aims in Iraq are two-tiered. "On the official level, the government wants a peaceful coexistence and even a partnership with Iraq. But . . . some Iranian political groups look at Iraq as a ally, which, because it's majority Shiite, should be on Iran's side and thus change the balance of power in the region toward Iran's favor against the U.S.," he said.

Maliki, who is Shiite, is seen by many Iranian analysts as a mediating figure. "He knows Iraq's destiny is with the United States and with Iran, so he tries to keep both sides happy," said Davoud Hermidas Bavand, professor of international relations at the Allameh Tabatabaei University in Tehran.

"We regard him as the friend of Iran but are concerned about U.S. pressure on him and his government. We expect them to act independently and according to Iraq's national interests, but we also understand his limitations," Ghahremanpour said. "Al-Maliki should make Iraq safe, he should persuade the U.S. to leave and get Arab countries to help with Iraqi reconstruction."

Ghahremanpour said relations between Iraq and the United States were not a "red line" for Iran. He pointed at Iran's good relationship with Turkey, which hosts U.S. military bases.

"We do not expect the Iraqis to cut relations with the U.S.," he said. "But we ask them to respect Iran's national interests."

Paley reported from Baghdad. Special correspondent Zaid Sabah in Baghdad contributed to this report.