TEHRAN, Aug 19 (AFP) - The Iranian foreign minister has called for an urgent meeting of Iraq's neighbours to help end the crisis there, the official IRNA agency said Thursday.
"It is time for Iraq's neighbours to contribute to a resolution of the Iraq crisis," Kamal Kharazi was quoted as saying during a telephone conversation with his Jordanian counterpart, Marwan Moasher.
Kharazi described the situation as critical, saying that Iraq's neighbours must do something to end the violence and protect the country's holy sites.
Four other countries neighbour Iraq, besides Iran and Jordan: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey. Their foreign ministers have had a number of meetings since the US-led invasion that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in March last year.
They last met in Cairo on July 21 to discuss the new Iraqi interim government's pleas for help in restoring security to the ravaged nation.
Kharazi also warned US troops against entering the shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf, where US-led forces have been laying siege to Shiite leader Moqtada Sadr, as this would be seen as a provocation by Muslims.
Meanwhile, former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani compared the situation in Najaf to the devastation of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by US atomic bombs in 1945.
"The American bombardment of the holy city of Najaf will stay in the world's memory, especially that of Muslims, like Hiroshima and Nagasaki," IRNA quoted him as saying Thursday, during a meeting with former Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.