A one-day international meeting to address the security issues in Iraq concluded on Saturday amid hopes of further regional and international initiatives to help ease the violence in the war-torn country.

The event was held at the invitation of the Iraqi government and aimed at enlisting the support of regional and international countries for the government's efforts to curb the violence.

Delegates and representatives from 13 nations, including Iran, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria, and Egypt, as well as three international groups, UN, the Organization of Islamic Conference and the Arab League, attended the security conference.

Iraqi Premier Nuri al-Maliki opened the meeting with an appeal to the neighboring nations to help Iraq's nascent democracy to survive.

Maliki warned that if "the bloodshed" in Iraq is not properly contained it will get spilled over the entire region engulfing the whole area in violence and terror.

A group of ten diplomats headed by Iran's deputy foreign minister for legal and international affairs, Abbas Araqchi attended the event.

Araqchi noted that Tehran has always pursued the logical line of aiding Iraqi government to crack down on terrorists and stop violence. He further dismissed all unfounded allegations by the United States that Iran backs militant groups in Iraq.

"There is no reason why we should interfere in Iraqi politics other than supporting peace and stability in Iraq," Araghchi said.

He further emphasized that the only solution to the current problems in Iraq is the immediate withdrawal of foreign troops, and warned that the presence of occupation troops is only muddying the issue.

The Iranian diplomat said that foreign troops are fuelling a cycle of bloodshed in Iraq where their presence is used as a justification for the violence and the ensuing violence in turn is used as pretext for their presence.

"The presence of foreign forces cannot help the security in Iraq in the long-term time," Araqchi said, adding, "We need a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign forces."

As the meeting drew to an end the most tangible results included an agreement by the delegates to form working groups on Iraq's border security, fuel imports and refugees and a pledge to hold a follow-up conference at a ministerial level probably in mid-March.

MRJ/AVA