Iraq asks Iran to rein in militants

Al Maliki with Ahmadinejad in Tehran.

TEHRAN: Iraqi prime minister Nuri al-Maliki made his first official visit to Iran, a close ally, asking the Islamic regime on Tuesday to crack down on Al Qaida militants infiltrating his country and seeking new deals to help Iraq's troubled oil industry.

The visit reflected the complex relationship between Iran, a mostly Shia Muslim country, and Iraq's government, now dominated in the post-Saddam Hussein era by Shia allies of Tehran.

Since Saddam's fall in 2003, Iraq has sought better relations with Iran and to heal scars left by the 1980-88 war that killed more than 1 million people on both sides.

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