Iraq wants good relations with both US, Iran

The Iraqi government would consider any attack against US forces in this country as an assault against Iraq but also wants good relations with its big eastern neighbor, Iran, the chief government spokesman said Thursday. "We would like to maintain good relations with Iran. Any attack against multinational forces, this is an act against the Iraq government. The Iraqi government would not allow any attack," chief government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh told reporters. "But at the same time, we want to maintain good relations with our neighbors, especially Iran. We have long borders with them, we have local interests with (them) and we would like to have our relation not in the shadow of the others."