Iraqi President Jalal Talabani arrived for talks in Iran yesterday amid growing calls for Washington to engage Tehran in dialogue to help stop Iraq sliding into civil war.
Mr Talabani's trip had been delayed because of a curfew imposed on Baghdad following a bomb attack on Thursday that killed 200 Shi'ite Muslims. The curfew was lifted yesterday.
Political analysts said Iran might try to use talks with Talabani to show off its influence to the UN and bolster its position ahead of any dialogue with its old enemy.
They said Mr Talabani, who speaks Farsi fluently after years of contacts with Iran when in opposition to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, could press Iran to stop seeing Iraq as a battleground in its three-decade-old fight with Washington.
Iran's Fars News Agency said Mr Talabani arrived for talks with top Iranian officials and would also sign bilateral agreements.
An Iranian official earlier said Mr Talabani would go straight into talks with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after arriving and would leave today after talks with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's highest authority.
Asked last week what his talks in Tehran would cover, Mr Talabani told Iranian state television: "Strengthening relations and Iraq's security."
The visit is the latest of a series of contacts. Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki visited Tehran in September and secured a pledge of support for his government from Tehran.
Iran's outspokenly anti-American president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said on Sunday Iran was ready to help the US in Iraq but only if it pledged to pull its troops out. Iran had invited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the talks, but Syria did not respond.
Iraq and Syria agreed last week to restore full diplomatic relations, in an accord in which Syria accepted that US troops should stay in Iraq while the Iraqi government needed them.
Syria has been accused of letting foreign fighters cross into Iraq. Iran is mainly accused of backing Shi'ite militias and exporting arms, a charge Tehran dismisses. Analysts said Iran had powerful friends in Iraq, but its influence had limits.
Meanwhile Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday Iran was ready to share its nuclear expertise with Algeria.
Iran has been referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions after failing to heed a demand to halt uranium enrichment work, which the West says Iran wants to use to build atomic bombs.