Baghdad: Iraq will send delegations to the US and Iran to help end tensions between the two countries, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi said on Tuesday, adding that Baghdad is neutral in the conflict.
Abdul-Mahdi, whose country has close ties to both Iran and the US, said that Iranian and US officials have informed Iraq that they have "no desire in fighting a war."
Last week, the US ordered the evacuation of non-essential diplomatic staff from Iraq amid unspecified threats from Iran and rising tensions across the region.
The White House has sent warships and bombers to the region to counter the alleged Iranian threats.
Abdul-Mahdi's comments came two days after a rocket slammed into Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, landing less than a mile from the sprawling US Embassy.
No injuries were reported and no group immediately claimed the Sunday night attack.
Major Iranian-backed groups in Iraq distanced themselves from the attack saying their country should not be pulled into regional conflict.
After America's 2003 invasion of Iraq to oust dictator Saddam Hussein, American troops and Iranian-backed militiamen fought pitched battles around the country, and scores of US troops were killed or wounded by sophisticated Iranian-made weapons.
Abdul-Mahdi said Iraq is "playing a role to calm the situation but it is not a mediation." He said he will visit Kuwait on Wednesday to discuss regional issues.
"What we are doing is trying to defuse the crisis," he told reporters in Baghdad during his weekly news conference, without going into details about the delegations that will be sent. Iraq is transferring messages from one side to the other, he said.
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