Iraq denies criticizing claimed Syrian - British maneuvers

In its recent issue, the Jordanian daily al-Majd said that the Iraqi ambassador to Jordan, Nouri Louis, stressed that the Iraqi embassy in Amman and the Iraqi government in Baghdad had no connection with the political statement released two weeks earlier by the Jordanian Baath party organization.

The statement criticized what was then called the joint Syrian-British naval maneuvers. The magazine added that in a telephone call he held last week with the Syrian charge d'affairs in Amman, Wahib Jabber, the Iraqi ambassador said the Iraqi government which is very careful to expand closeness and integration between the two countries is not responsible for statements or literature issued by the Baath Arab Socialist Party in Jordan.

He added that it is a Jordanian party which enjoys organizational and political independence.

The statements of the Iraqi ambassador and his assertions came in a telephone call during which the Iraqi ambassador asked the Syrian charge d'affairs to notify the Syrian Foreign Ministry of his intention to cross the Syrian territories on his way together with his family to visit Lebanon.