Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

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Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is planning to make his first visit to Iraq, the highest level trip by an Iranian leader since the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki invited Ahmadinejad after he visited Tehran earlier this month, the ISNA student news agency reported. ‏

"This invitation has been accepted and the preparation is underway. When the trip becomes definite we will make an announcement," Mottaki said in Iran`s holy second city of Mashhad late on Sunday. ‏

Mottaki visited Iraq himself in May 2006 while Iran`s top national security official Ali Larijani travelled to the war-torn country in April 2007. ‏

However neither Ahmadinejad nor his predecessor Mohammad Khatami have visited Iraq since the toppling of Saddam in 2003. ‏

Such a visit would emphasise the strong relations between Tehran and the Iraqi led government in Baghdad, which have caused considerable unease in Washington. ‏