clari.world.mideast.iraq

WASHINGTON, March 4 (UPI) -- Iran's president criticized the
United States during his trip to Baghdad but Iran's relationship
with the West is improving, an Israeli report says.
The Bush administration is keen on handing the next .
president a stable Iraq. Continuing to work on relations in their
seven-month quiet engagement with the Iranians plays a prominent
role in various developments in both countries and Iraq's stability,
the Jerusalem military intelligence Web site, DEBKAfile said
Tuesday.
The United Nations Security Council Monday slapped
additional sanctions on Iran for its failure to halt uranium
enrichment activity but the trade bans were anticipated by the
Iranian leadership and are seen there as of little consequence.
But looking to the next . presidential term, the White
House may accept a pledge from Tehran to freeze, not dismantle, its
uranium program and alleged nuclear weapons research, the report
said.
. strategists in Iraq stopped direct action against
several of the Iranian-backed groups operating in Iraq with the
understand that without at least tacit support of Iraqi
reconstruction from the Iranians, the mission there may spiral out
of control, DEBKAfile said.