国际英语新闻：Iran's supreme leader warns against "long-term" U.S. stay in Iraq

TEHRAN, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah AliKhamenei warned Saturday that the United States was planning a "long-term stay" in Iraq, Iran's Press TV reported.

    "The occupiers are preparing the ground for a long-term stay in Iraq. This is a serious matter which Iraqi authorities should not neglect," Khamenei said in a meeting with visiting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani.

    "The presence of foreign troops in Iraq is the detriment of the country," Khamenei said, adding that "The occupation forces must leave Iraq promptly because every single day of delay will harm the nation."

    His remarks came one day after U.S. President Barack Obama announced a plan to withdraw most troops from Iraq in 18 months, leaving about 35,000 to 50,000 of the current total of around 140,000 troops behind.

    Obama also said that he intended to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of 2011 in line with a security pact signed between the Iraqi government and the former George W. Bush administration.

    The Iranian supreme leader also "touched upon the opposition of the enemy to the amicable Iran-Iraq relations and urged the Iraqi government and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to seriously follow up on the implementation of bilateral agreements," Press TV reported.

    Talabani, for his part, said that Tehran-Baghdad relations would pave the way for the establishment of peace and stability in the region.

    "The more the Iraq-Iran relations expand, the more stable and peaceful the region will become," Talabani said. "Iran has proved it has been a great help to Iraq."

    Talabani arrived in Tehran late Thursday for a three-day visit to the neighboring Islamic republic.

    Iran and Iraq fought a cruel eight-year war in the 1980s. However, bilateral relationship has been picking up since the fall of Iraq's former President Saddam Hussein and his Sunni power in 2003.

    Talabani's last visit to Iran was in June 2007, while Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traveled to Iraq in March 2008 in the first ever visit by an Iranian president to the neighboring country.