In Brief... Former Enemies Embrace Against United States
Iran and Iraq fought the longest war in modern history between 1980 and 1988, and one million Iranian and Iraqi troops are believed to have been killed in the conflict and thousands more are still listed as missing in action. No peace agreement has ever been signed.
On Jan. 26, Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri was in Iran for discussions aimed at normalizing relations with its longtime enemy. Sabri said he was invited to Iran to try to resolve "the outstanding problems which were left on the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s and later on."
One of the main problems is Iraq's support of opposition groups in Iran and the Iranian government's support for Iraqi opposition figures. Iran also demands war reparations from Iraq.
The latest push comes as a growing number of officials in the United States are urging the overthrow of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as the next step in the war against terrorism. An alliance between the two countries could make it harder for the United States to bring the war on terrorism to the region. Despite their longstanding differences, the two countries have made progress in recent months. At the end of January, Iran released more than 500 Iraqi prisoners, some of the last POWs from the Iran-Iraq war.
Iran and Iraq have also agreed to resume direct flights between their capitals, Tehran and Baghdad, for the first time in two decades.
Both countries are majority Shi'ite, and in 1998 Iraq agreed to allow Iranian pilgrims to visit holy sites in Iraq for the first time since the war.
Source: CNN.
An Article from:
World News and Prophecy: February 2002
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Jim Tuck
Jim has been in the ministry over 40 years serving fifteen congregations. He and his wife, Joan, started their service to God's church in Pennsylvania in 1974. Both are graduates of Ambassador University. Over the years they served other churches in Alabama, Idaho, Oregon, Arizona, California, and currently serve the Phoenix congregations in Arizona, as well as the Hawaii Islands. He has had the opportunity to speak in a number of congregations in international areas of the world. They have traveled to Zambia and Malawi to conduct leadership seminars In addition, they enjoy working with the youth of the church and have served in youth camps for many years.
John Foster
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