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Baghdad: Iraqi president Jalal Al Talabani is in the United States to receive medical treatment, but he will make time during his journey to follow up secret talks with American officials on the Iranian nuclear issue, sources from the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, headed by Al Talabani, revealed to Gulf News.
The sources said the escalating Iranian nuclear issue since Iran's response on western incentives to stop uranium enrichment may push President Al Talabani into further talks with the Americans.
Fouad Massoum, a prominent Kurdish leader who is close to Talabani, told Gulf News Iraqi leaders have always tried to bridge the gap between Iran and the US and they have succeeded in the past.
"The goal is to support security in Iraq, to create an atmosphere inducive to dialogue between Iran and the US on issues of interest to the region, because the security of the region serves the security of Iraq," he said.
But some Iraqi politicians have different views.
"I am among those who accompanied Vice-President Adel Abdul Mahdi to Iran on many of his visits. The goal of these visits was to bring the position of Iran and the US closer and to encourage dialogue between the two sides on the nuclear question. After taking part in this, I think Iraq should not be part of any mediation because the political and security situation in Iraq does not allow effective mediation," Hassan Al Shamri, a leader of the Shiite Virtue Party, told Gulf News.
Faced with the possibility that Iraqi political leaders might not be effective in influencing the Iranian side, some interested parties in the Shiite city of Najaf, where the supreme Shiite authority Ali Al Sistani is based, raised the possibility that Shiite clerics in Iraq should talk to Shiite clerics in Iran so that any Iraqi moves toward mediation between Iran and the US will be accepted by the Iranian government.
"Iraqi leaders, headed by President Al Talabani sent envoys to Al Sistani in the previous months and asked him for support in resolving the Iranian nuclear question with the Americans. I think Talabani and other Iraqi officials realised ... the need to talk directly to clerics in Iran who have a strong influence on politics in Iran," Mahdi Al Shubani, a Shiite researcher in Najaf, said.
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