Iran to help halt Iraq violence

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, pledged Monday in a meeting with the Iraqi president that Iran will do all it can to stop the growing violence in Iraq.

"The Iranian government and people will stand by their brothers in Iraq and will do anything to help bring peace into Iraq," Ahmadinejad said in a press conference with the Iraqi president, Jalal Talabani, state-run television reported. "A safe, developed and strong Iraq is better for Iran and also for the region," he said.

In an effort to increase its role as an influential power in the region, Iran had also invited the Syrian president, Bashar Assad, to join the talks with Talabani. But Assad did not respond to the invitation, according to an official at Ahmadinejad's office who requested anonymity.

Analysts believe that Talabani is in Tehran to urge Iranian officials to hold direct talks with the United States to help stop the bloodshed in Iraq. On Sunday, Ahmadinejad said that Iran was ready to help America in Iraq. Iran has close ties with Shiite leaders in Iraq, and it might be able to call on them to exert restraint. Many of them lived in Iran in exile when Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq.

A draft report by an American bipartisan commission studying new strategies for Iraq urges that the United States conduct direct talks with Iran and Syria, according to American officials who have seen all or part of the document. Iran has offered to meet with the United States, an overture rejected by President Bush as long as Iran continues its uranium enrichment program.

In the press conference, Talabani, a Kurd who had close ties to Iran, said that Iraq needed Iran's help to fight terrorism and bring peace.

"We seriously need Iran's help to restore stability and security," he was quoted as saying.

Iran and Iraq fought a bloody war from 1980 to 1988. Talabani was Iraq's first president to travel to Iran when he came a year ago, and Iraq's prime minister, Nouri Kamal al-Maliki, visited Iran in September.

In Iraq on Monday, an American fighter jet crashed in Anbar Province about 20 miles northwest of Baghdad, the American military command reported. The Air Force F-16, which had one pilot on board, was supporting combat troops when it went down, the military said in a brief statement, offering no further details.