EU's Ashton talks Iran and Syria in Iraq

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton landed in Baghdad on Monday for talks with Iraqi officials, with Iran's disputed nuclear programme and the bloody conflict in Syria high on the agenda. Ashton met with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Deputy Prime Minister responsible for energy affairs Hussein al-Shahristani, and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, according to their offices and an AFP journalist. Her one-day visit to Iraq will also see her make a brief trip to Arbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdish region. She held talks on Iran's nuclear programme and violence in Syria, both neighbours of Iraq, according to statements released by Maliki's and Shahristani's offices. It comes just days after moderate cleric Hassan Rowhani was declared Iran's new president, with world powers offering a cautious welcome amid persistent concerns over Tehran's nuclear programme. Western powers and Israel believe the programme is being used to develop an atomic bomb, but Iran insists it is for peaceful purposes. Ashton has said she was committed to working with Rowhani to find a "swift diplomatic solution" to the disputed programme. Ashton serves as chief negotiator for the six world powers seeking to check Iran's nuclear ambitions. Syria, meanwhile, has been locked in a bloody conflict since 2011 between President Bashar al-Assad and opposition rebels, with more than 93,000 people having been killed, according to the United Nations. Iraq has sought to publicly avoid taking sides in the conflict, but Washington has accused Baghdad of turning a blind eye to flights travelling through Iraqi airspace carrying military equipment from Iran for Assad's regime.