Talabani’s Iran visit put on hold
Extension of curfew forces Iraq’s president to postpone his Iran trip a second time.
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“The Tehran visit is still on, but the airport is closed. As soon as the airport opens we will leave to Tehran“ Jalal Talabani |
Bashar al-Assad, the president of Syria, was supposed to join Talabani and Ahmadinejad this weekend but reports from Tehran said Syria appeared to be staying away from the summit.
Meanwhile, a UN envoy has urged Iraq’s government to halt a slide into civil war and stop the “cancer” of sectarianism from destroying the country, warning that the carnage of this week could tear Iraq apart.
Ashraf Jehangir Qazi said on Saturday car bombs that killed more than 200 Shias and “blind acts of revenge” were “tearing apart the very political and social fabric of Iraq”.
“No country could tolerate such a cancer in its body politic,” he said in a statement.