Iranian FM Kamal Kharazi(L) and his Iraqi counterpart Hoshiar al-Zebari are present at a press conference in Baghaded May 17, 2005.  (Xinhua/AFP photo)

Iranian FM Kamal Kharazi present at a press conference in Baghaded May 17, 2005.  (Xinhua/AFP photo)

    BAGHDAD, May 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Iraq hailed Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi's visit Tuesday as a new start in the two countries' relations, while Tehran offered its full support to the new Iraqi government and pledged not to allow insurgents to enter Iraq from its territory.

    Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiar al-Zebari said Kharrazi's visit, the highest-level visit by an Iranian official since former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's ouster, marked a new start in bilateral ties.

    He added that his country is ready to boost ties with Iran, a former foe of Iraq. "We have been working with Iran to open a new page in the bilateral relationship," Zebari told a press conference jointly held with Kharazi.

    "We need to build a new Iraq, which will work in peace with its neighbors and the countries in the region and the world," he said.

    Iran and other Iraqi neighbors must help protect Iraq's borders, until its armed forces are able to safeguard the country themselves, he said.

    For his part, Kharazi pledged to support Iraq's transitional government led by Shiite Islamist Ibrahim al-Jaafari, whose cabinet was sworn in on April 28, three months after the election on Jan. 30.

    He said it was Iran's duty to support the reconstruction of Iraq, no matter "how many disagreements" there are between Iran and the United States, which is occupying Iraq.

    He promised that Iran "is ready for all forms of cooperation in all fields, security, economic and matters of mutual interest."

    Kharazi expressed hope that close cooperation will be forged with Iraq, adding that a joint committee will be set up to control the security in the region.

    Denying that his country has interfered in Iraq's internal affairs, Kharazi said Tehran knows nothing about the suspects who have reportedly infiltrated into Iraq from the porous border between the two countries.

    In addition, Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari urged both countries to "turn the painful page of the past and have relations based on frank cooperation and non-interference in each other's affairs."

    Iraq and Iran fought a bitter eight-year war during the 1980s which claimed more than 1 million lives.

    But bilateral relations improved after Iraq's Shiite majority gained political clout after the Jan. 30 election.

    Both Iraq's new transitional President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister al-Jafaari are believed to have strong ties with Iran, a Shiite-dominated Islamic republic.

    Kharazi's visit came amid escalating terrorist attacks across Iraq that have fueled fears that the country is in danger of a widening sectarian conflict.

    Gunmen shot dead two Shiite clerics Tuesday in Baghdad, one outside his house, and the other in his car in an ambush. A third body, that of a member of the Sunni Muslim Clerics Association, was also found in Baghdad on Tuesday.

    Other violence continued Tuesday. Alaaeddin Wazir al-Obeidi, the second member of the Commission on Public Integrity to be killed in a month, was assassinated in the capital.

    A man and his three sons were also killed by unknown attackers in a village near Mahawil, 70 km south of Baghdad, police said.

    Four Iraqis, including a soldier, were killed in Baghdad and two others were wounded in three separate bomb attacks. The bodies of two Iraqi contractors were found near Sharkat, 300 km north of the capital. Enditem