Tehran-Baghdad contacts for settling "misunderstanding" - report

Tehran and Baghdad held contacts for settling what Iran called as "misunderstanding" over occupation of an oil well in southern Iraq by Iranian troops, official news agency IRNA reported Sunday.

In a phone contact on Saturday night with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki suggested a meeting of a border technical committee to implement mutual agreements and settle the misunderstanding, dpa reported.

According to IRNA, the two sides underscored the necessity of keeping away from issues which may have been caused by "aliens."

Iran's ambassador to Baghdad Hassan Kazemi-Qomi told the news network Khabar on Sunday that diplomatic efforts to settle the issue were underway and the issue would soon be settled.

Both the ambassador and Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast blamed the foreign media of having exaggerated the incident with the aim to tarnish Iran-Iraq ties.

Tehran did however not fully deny the incident but said that the foreign ministry was following up the case.