Iran says old foe Iraq is now its brother

Yahoo News:

By Amir PaivarSat

Jul 16, 1:27 PM ET

Iran on Saturday hailed Iraq as its "brother," taking a further step toward laying to rest the spectre of their war of attrition in the 1980s that killed hundreds of thousands on both sides.

Iran and Iraq bludgeoned each other to a stalemate between 1980 and 1988, but on Saturday cemented improving ties with warm words that may foreshadow healthier commercial links, despite Washington's reservations.

"We consider Iraq as our brother," Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Reza Aref told reporters.

"In a short time, we cannot only recover from decades of frosty relations but can also draw on what we have in common to become a model of firm ties in the region," he added.

Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, the first Iraqi leader to visit Tehran in decades, said both sides stood to benefit from a diplomatic rapprochement.

"These ties with Iran are very old and are based on our common interests," he said. Washington has taken a guarded view of predominantly Shi'ite Muslim Iraq's rapprochement with its coreligionist neighbor, but regards some bridge building as inevitable.

It accuses Tehran of fomenting resistance to U.S. troops in Iraq, funding anti-Israeli militia and of seeking nuclear arms. Iran denies these charges.

WHEELS OF COMMERCE BEGIN TO TURN

Iran has long had ambitious plans to co-operate with its neighboring member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, by swapping crude oil and possibly even jointly developing border oil fields.

Although it seems the visit of Jaafari's ministerial delegation will bring neither of these projects closer, Iraq's oil minister said he hoped his country could pump a small volume of crude oil to Iran in return for much-needed gasoline.

Ibrahim Bahr al-Uloum told reporters that he hoped a preliminary agreement would be signed on Monday. The two countries are also expected to negotiate rescheduling regular flights between Tehran and Baghdad and linking Iran's electricity grid to power-hungry Iraq.

Iran's official IRNA news agency quoted Iraq's industry minister saying that Iran and Iraq would start joint carmaking projects.

Iran has agreed to send about 200,000 tonnes of flour to Iraq and will guarantee letters of credit issued by an Iraqi bank to a total of $300 million.

Iraq has already bought heating fuel from OPEC's second biggest crude exporter and small amounts of non-oil trade have begun to flow across the border.