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Ahmadinejad calls for US forces to leave Gulf

“With each other’s help, we can turn the Arabian Gulf to the gulf of peace and friendship,” the semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in a meeting with the UAE President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

“We all wish that foreign troops would leave the region and give a chance to countries in the region to establish security in the region themselves,” Mehr quoted Ahmadinejad as saying at the start of his two-day visit, the first to the Gulf Arab country by an Iranian head of state.

The United States, which has a strong military presence in the Gulf, accuses Iran of seeking to make nuclear weapons and has sought tougher sanctions against Iran. Iran says it only wants to generate power to allow more oil exports.

Abu Dhabi and Teheran have full diplomatic ties and strong trade links.

“The world community should consider in all its ... decisions the interests of all regional countries and their people to ensure their security, peace and continued development,” UAE’s official WAM news agency quoted Shaikh Khalifa as saying. It did not elaborate.

The White House said on Sunday that US and Iranian officials would meet in the next few weeks in Baghdad about security in Iraq, confirming a similar announcement by Teheran.

• UAE