The trip to Iran paid by Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari of the Iraqi transitional government is receiving high attention: Iran's current President Mohammed Khatami and President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad both held meetings with him, it is reported that Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei will also meet with him. Jaafari's Iran visit is so eye-catching mainly because of the following:

Firstly, the lineup of the visiting delegation is on an unprecedented scale, the Iraqi PM's entourage includes seven cabinet ministers in charge of foreign affairs, national defense, petroleum, communications and electric power, a scale beyond compare to his visit to the United States.

During the visit, leaders of the two countries held talks on economic issues such as energy, electricity and water supplies to promote cooperation. People have noticed that when the visit was declared, 15,000 staff members of the Iraqi Southern Oil Company went on strike, as a result, oil export was forced to suspend for 24 hours. Oil export in northern Iraq is also frequently in a stagnant state due to incessant damages. The reduction of crude oil production has affected not only economic reconstruction that depends on oil dollars, but also domestic fuel and electricity supplies. The transitional government is eager to solve the problems concerning the shortages in oil, electricity and water, so as to alleviate people's dissatisfaction. Iran, on its part, is willing to offer timely help to Iraq to bring closer relations between the two countries.

Secondly, Iraq's security situation has again become grim in recent months. In the two months of May and June, more than 860 Iraqis lost their lives in various types of attacks. In the attack on a gas station on June 16 alone, over 90 people died and nearly 100 persons were injured.

At the time when Iraq's security situation was deteriorating, the United States and Britain respectively declared that they would begin to cut down their troops stationed in Iraq next year. Iraq was compelled to turn to neighboring countries for support, especially effective cooperation in the aspect of boundary control. According to an Iraqi official in charge of border control, Baghdad will repatriate as many as 10,000 foreigners who entered the country illegally, this also needs the understanding and coordination of neighboring countries.

However, what people feel more interested in are the new Iraqi government's diplomatic trends as revealed in the visit itself.

US media earlier pointed out that the United States had paid a price of an excess of US$200 billion and the loss of the lives of over 1,700 soldiers, this may mean making a trousseau for Iran at the cost of US dollars and heavy casualties, that is to say, Iraq is likely to evolve into a pro-Iran Islamic government.

It should be said that the media's worries are not completely unnecessary and groundless: First, the winner of the Iraqi general election is the Shiite, the same as in Iran, the two sides may respond to each other with same "belief", and request each other in the same manner. Second, the main leaders of the new government, such as Prime Minister Jaafari and many cabinet members, took refuge in Iran during the rule of Saddam Hussein and got great help from Iran, so they naturally hope to repay Iran's kindness. Because of this, the United States cannot but be vary of the development trend of the new Iraqi government. The newly appointed US ambassador to Iraq indicated that it was not the American policy to allow Iran and Iraq in an antagonistic state, "but we don't want to see Iraqi affairs being subjected to external interference, good relationship also implies that the neighbor shouldn't attempt to control Iraq's institutions or various realms."

Whether viewed from the angle of religious belief, economic reconstruction, or from the angle of state security, Iraq's improvement of relationship with Iran is undoubtedly logical and as a matter of course. But this doesn't mean that the new Iraqi government would embark on an anti-US road. Don't forget that although Iraq and Iran have the same beliefs, they, after all, are Arab and Persian nations and the foreign policy of any government cannot but be based on the attribute of the nation and interests of the state.

In addition, the new Iraqi government led by the Shiites and Kurds is very clear that they could not but attribute their success in the political power to American support. To date, not only political and economic reconstruction depends on US money and strength; the not yet full-fledged new Iraqi army and police can hardly shoulder heavy responsibility single-handedly, the country can barely maintain its security without the United States serving as its "backing".

It is thus clear that the new Iraqi government can only play the wire-walking game and strike a balance between Iran and the United States. However, it needs super political wisdom and diplomatic skill to achieve success one way or another instead of being in a straightened circumstance -- this will always be a severe test to the new Iraqi government.

This article on the third page of People's Daily, July 19, 2005, is translated by By People's Daily Online