Iraqi VP to meet Iranian president

Story Highlights

• Iraqi vice president on first visit to Tehran
• Tariq al-Hashimi thanks Iran for "positive" role in Iraq, Iranian news agency says
• Iraqi foreign minister says Iran must not turn Iraq into its battlefield

Adjust font size:

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi will meet Monday with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran, according to al-Hashimi's office.

It is al-Hashimi's first visit to Iran. He is the head of the Iraqi Islamic Party, part of the Iraqi parliament's largest Sunni Arab political bloc. He is one of two vice presidents in Iraq.

Iran, like Iraq, is majority Shiite Muslim.

On Sunday, al-Hashimi met with his Iranian counterpart, Parviz Davoudi.

According to Iran's state-run news agency, IRNA, Davoudi expressed his country's support for a stable and strong Iraq to the visiting delegation.

The report said the Iraqi vice president also had positive words about Tehran's role in Iraq.

"Al-Hashimi, for his part, expressed gratitude to the Iranian government and nation for going the 'extra mile' to help solve Iraq's problems and for their concern for the people at this time of crisis," according to the IRNA report.

Al-Hashimi arrived in Tehran on Sunday, a day after Iraq hosted a Baghdad security conference attended by Iran and other neighboring countries as well as representatives from the United Nations and United States.

Iran's role in Iraq has been criticized by the United States, which says the regime in Tehran has not done enough to stop the flow of weapons into Iraq. The U.S. military says it has evidence those weapons are ending up in the hands of Shiite insurgent groups.

On Sunday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told CNN that he was misquoted by IRNA, which reported that he praised Iran's "constructive" role in Iraq.

While acknowledging that Iran has a role in Iraq's future, Zebari said, "The message I gave them yesterday [Saturday] is not to turn Iraq into a battlefield for settling scores with the United States or any other countries at our cost."

He said he confronted the Iranian delegates during bilateral meetings at Saturday's conference about "intelligence that weapons, people, some support is coming across the border from the Iranian side."