Washington - US President George W Bush had some advice for the leaders of Iran and Iraq as they prepared for a historic visit on Sunday. In remarks at his Texas ranch on Saturday, Bush suggested that Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "stop exporting terror" and "come clean about their nuclear weapons ambitions."
He said he understood the importance of Sunday's meeting, one neighbour to another.
But he also said that Iraq's leaders - President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki - should tell the Iranian leader to "quit sending in sophisticated equipment that's killing" Iraqi citizens and back off "because we want enough breathing space for our democracy to develop."
The United States charges that Iran has been supplying equipment for Iraqi insurgents to build deadly IEDs (improvised explosive devices) used to attack Iraqi and US security forces, and has also been backing Shiite militants there.
The visit to Baghdad represents the first visit to Iraq of an Iranian head of state since the latter country's Islamic revolution in 1979. The two countries waged a long, disastrous war between 1980 and 1988.
With the ouster of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein by the US in 2003, minority Sunnis lost control to the majority Shiite parties that have close ties to Tehran.
The US is worried not only by growing Iranian influence in the region, but also by Iran's nuclear enrichment programme that it says aims to provide material for nuclear weapons. Iran insists the enriched uranium is intended only for domestic use in power plants.
The UN Security Council is set to vote Monday on a new round of sanctions against Iran for continuing to flaunt international demands that it stop enrichment. All five veto-wielding council members - China, Russia, the US, France and Britain - have agreed on a draft resolution that will be voted on by the 15-member panel.
In an interview published Saturday, Ahmadinejad insisted his country is not intervening in Iraqi affairs and that his visit to Baghdad was about strengthening economic ties.
The leaders will meet in Baghdad's so-called Green Zone, a strictly walled-off area on the banks of the Tigris River guarded not only by Iraqi but also American soldiers.
The US is the Iraqi government's most important ally, while Iran's theocracy has not had relations with the US in 27 years.
Iranian observers expect that the Iraqis will attempt to convince Ahmadinejad to open a constructive dialogue with the US. Iran wants this dialogue too, but is expecting in return the end of US sanctions, particularly those targeting Iran's nuclear programme.
