Iraq VP warns Americans against striking Iran

NAJAF, Iraq, Apr 28 (Reuters) An Iraqi vice president warned the United States today against attacking Iran.

Adel Abdul Mahdi, the Shi'ite member of the three-man Presidency Council, was asked about speculation US forces might strike to prevent Iran developing nuclear technology: ''We will not allow anyone to attack anyone,'' he said after a meeting in the holy city of Najaf with Grand Ayatollah Ali al- Sistani, Iraq's senior Shi'ite cleric. ''We think that the use of force is not appropriate for solving any problem.'' The leaders of Iraq's Shi'ite majority, including Mahdi's SCIRI party, have close ties to their fellow Shi'ite Islamists ruling neighbouring Iran, where many of them sought refuge from the Sunni-dominated administration of Saddam Hussein.

Another leading Iraqi Shi'ite politician, cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr, recently pledged the support of his Mehdi Army fighters to Iran if US forces attacked.

On a visit to Baghdad this week, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld declined to be drawn on whether American troops occupying Iraq might be deployed against Iran.

US and British officials have accused Iran of fomenting unrest in Iraq as a way of deflecting pressure on Tehran over a nuclear programme which it insists is intended for civil use but which Washington says is a cover for making atomic weapons.

The International Atomic Energy Agency is expected on Friday to tell the UN Security Council Iran has not fully answered questions in response to a Council request.

Mahdi, a French-educated economist well regarded by US diplomats, was re-appointed vice president last week and forms the Presidency Council with a new Sunni Arab vice president and the re-appointed president, Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani.

Shi'ite Prime Minister-designate Nuri al-Maliki is working on forming a government following the election of a new parliament in US-sponsored voting in December.

REUTERS CH BD2035