ARAB AFFAIRS - July 7 - Iraq And Iran To Co-operate Over Defence.

Former foes Iraq and Iran announces "a new chapter" in their relations, including cross-border military co-operation, dismissing US concerns about Iranian regional meddling. On his first official visit to Tehran, Iraqi minister of defence Saadoun Al Dulaimi asserted his country's sovereign right to seek help from wherever it sees fit in rebuilding its defence capabilities. "Nobody can dictate to Iraq its relations with other countries", Dulaimi said in a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Admiral Ali Shamkhani. The two ministers said that a military co-operation agreement, now in the preparation, would include Iranian help with training and upgrading Iraq's reconstituted armed forces, a process so far overseen by US and coalition advisers. Iran and Iraq fought a brutal war from 1980 to 1988, at a time when Washington saw Iraq's then-strongman leader, Saddam Hussein, as a bulwark against the spread of Iranian-inspired Islamic radicalism. Since the US-led overthrow of Hussein in 2003, US officials have accused Shiite-dominated Iran of interfering in Iraq's internal affairs. Iraq's interim government last year rejected an Iranian offer of training for Iraqi border guards, but relations have since warmed under an elected government, based on a Shiite Arab parliamentary majority. Dulaimi, a Sunni Arab appointed to the defence post in an effort to achieve ethnic balance, said Iran had offered $1 bn (838m) in aid as a gesture of support for Iraq's post-war reconstruction, without giving further details. The US administration insists that coalition troops must stay in Iraq until the country's own security forces are ready to stand alone against insurgents, who refuse to recognise the government elected on Jan 30. While asserting Iraq's sovereignty, Dulaimi said coalition forces were still needed. He said: If they leave in the current situation, there will be nothing but insurgency and crisis. We should have time to train forces to replace the multinational forces". PM Ibrahim Al Jaafari, has called for training and re-equipping efforts to be stepped up so that foreign troops can "leave Iraq sooner". Jaafari is scheduled to lead a large delegation to Tehran next week. US and Iraqi officials have previously accused Iran of encouraging instability in Iraq, reflecting similar fears to those that prompted Hussein's 1980 invasion. Tehran has denied cross-border meddling or allowing arms and fighters to flow into Iraq from Iranian soil. Nonetheless, Admiral Shamkhani welcomed "a new chapter in our relations", promising that the neighbouring countries would "start wide defence co-operations". He, too, dismissed presumed US objections. "No one can prevent us from reaching an agreement", he said.