( dpa ) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cancelled Monday his planned visit to Iraq's holy cities of Najaf and Karbala due to a busy schedule, according to Iraqi al-Sharqiyah TV channel.
Ahmadinejad, on a landmark visit to Iraq, had planned to meet the country's highest Shiite religious authority in Najaf.
The city is a centre for scholars and a major pilgrimage destination for Shiite Muslims as it is the site of the tomb of Imam Ali, the Prophet Mohammed's cousin, and the first Shiite imam.
Iraq's top Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is Iranian-born but has maintained a pragmatic approach towards US occupation of Iraq and does not share Ahmadinejad's anti-US sentiments.