Tehran will help the United States in Iraq as soon as Washington announces its plans to withdraw its troops from the country, Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said yesterday.
"When they announce that they will withdraw, we will announce how we will help," the minister told journalists on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue, without elaborating.
By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
Manama: Tehran will help the United States in Iraq as soon as Washington announces its plans to withdraw its troops from the country, Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said yesterday.
"When they announce that they will withdraw, we will announce how we will help," the minister told journalists on the sidelines of the Manama Dialogue, without elaborating.
But he insisted on the need for the Americans to leave Iraq as a first step towards a solution.
Mottaki said that the US, and not Iran, needed help because it did not have a realistic picture of the situation in Iraq, adding that the Baker-Hamilton report showed only half of the truth.
"Look at the US policies. Three months into the conflict, [President] George Bush said that the war was over. Now after three years, we can still see that there is war in Iraq. The same thing is happening in Afghanistan.
"Five years ago, the US said that it was going there to re-establish stability and security. Today, we have a shaky situation compounded by instability and insecurity," he said.
The minister rejected claims that his country was seeking to possess nuclear weapons. "We believe that the era of nuclear weapons is over because they no longer serve any purpose," he added.
Reports denied: Riyadh 'will not deploy troops in Iraq'
The Saudi chief of general intelligence has denied reports that his country would deploy troops in Iraq.
"There is no intention to deploy Saudi troops in Iraq unless the Arab League calls for such a move," Prince Muqrin Bin Abdul Aziz on Friday told the Manama conference.
He added that Israel's nuclear arsenal had provoked an arms race in the Middle East in which some states got involved.
In his keynote address to the third Manama Dialogue, the Saudi official also warned that the deterioration of the situation in Iraq was leading to "a heinous sectarian war that attracted and eventually exported terrorists, casting a shadow on the stability and security of the region".
