French daily Le Monde, underlining that Iraqi Prime Minister’s trip to Tehran had no advantage for the Iranian regime, wrote: Nouri al-Maliki, who has started tough discussions with the US on keeping US forces in Iraq since several months ago, was not able to create some leniency in Iran’s opposition to this presence.

Le Monde added: Before Maliki left Iran, Khamenei called the presence of US forces in Iraq the main obstacle to progress, development and unity in Iraq. In exchange for Maliki’s guarantees, Khamenei only said that the Iraqi Premier must free his country from the presence of Americans.