Special report: Tension escalates in Iraq

    TEHRAN, June 8 (Xinhua) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Sunday that Iraq would not become a platform to "harm" neighboring Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

    The Baghdad government "will not allow Iraq to become a platform for harming the security of Iran and other neighbors," al-Maliki said early Sunday after his late-night talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in Tehran.

    "Iraq's stability and security can have a great impact on the region," said al-Maliki, who arrived in Tehran on Saturday afternoon for a two-day visit to the Islamic Republic.

    "We see the implementation of peace and security in Iraq and Iran as what both countries want," he added.

    The Iraqi premier is also expected to hold separate talks on Sunday with high-ranking Iranian officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

    Al-Maliki's remarks came as the United States is pressuring Baghdad to sign an agreement that would keep U.S. soldiers in the country beyond 2008.

    Iraqi critics of the agreement said that it means Iraq will be a client state in which the United States will keep more than 50 military bases and American soldiers will enjoy legal immunity.

    Iran fiercely opposes the agreement, which is expected to be signed by midsummer, and has always called for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.