Iraq and Iran are to start talks later this month on building a railway line linking Baghdad and Tehran, according to a weekly newspaper report Tuesday.
The Al-Rafidain said senior officials from Iraq's Transport Ministry, to be included in a high-level delegation led by Foreign Minister Naji Sabri who is due in Tehran later this month, would be discussing the railway project with Iranian officials. According to the paper, the Iraqi delegation will also discuss the "restitution of civilian and military planes" that Iraq flew to Iran to avoid destruction before the 1991 Gulf War with the United States-led coalition.
Iraq says it has 113 warplanes and 33 civilian aircraft still in Iran, while Iran says it has only 22 Iraqi planes that could be returned if the United Nations asked it to do so, according to Iranian official news agency (IRNA).
Officials in Baghdad say the two countries had planned a railway line in the 1970s linking the southern Iraqi city Basra to Iran's Ahvaz, but the plan was shelved. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
