BAGHDAD - US deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick met Thursday with Iraqi parliamentary speaker Hajem Hassani before talks with Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari, the US embassy said.
Zoellick is on one-day visit to Iraq, just four days after US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice paid a surprise visit to Baghdad to express support for the new Shiite-led government which took office at the start of the month.
Zoellick's visit comes at a time of rising sectarian tension between majority Shiite and minority Sunni Arabs.
05/19/2005 09:44 GMT