Iran’s president to attend talks on Lebanon

Reuters: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to attend an emergency meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Malaysia on Thursday to discuss the war in Lebanon, officials said. PUTRAJAYA, Malaysia (Reuters) – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to attend an emergency meeting of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Malaysia on Thursday to discuss the war in Lebanon, officials said.

“The president is coming. He will be here tomorrow,” a member of the Iranian delegation told Reuters on Wednesday.

Malaysia, the current chairman of OIC, said the meeting was expected to press for an unconditional ceasefire in Lebanon.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told reporters it was important to get the biggest Muslim nations together here, as well as those immediately affected, Lebanon and Syria.

He later told Reuters the Iranian leader would arrive on Thursday morning and leave that same evening, with a bilateral meeting planned as well.

The meeting is also expected to call for the inclusion of OIC member states in any U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, where Israeli forces have been pounding Hezbollah guerrillas since mid-July. At least 643 people have been killed in Lebanon and 55 Israelis have also been killed in the conflict.

Egypt and Indonesia are also among the 18 member countries attending the Malaysia meeting.

The Saudi-based OIC is the world’s biggest Islamic body, grouping 57 countries.