Iraq says it does not repudiate Iran border treaty

By Ahmed Rasheed and Wisam Mohammed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq said on Thursday it had not repudiated a 32-year-old border treaty with Iran, despite a declaration by Iraqi President Jalal Talabani that the accord over which the countries waged a decade of war was now void.

Talabani's office said on Thursday that his remarks earlier this week did not amount to a formal repudiation of the accord.

"The Algiers Treaty is valid and not void. It is still in force and no party can unilaterally cancel the treaty. This fact is recognised by the president and he did not mean in his passing and improvised remarks to cancel the active treaty," Talabani's office said in a statement.

Talabani's earlier remarks had threatened to reopen a border dispute that caused one of the bloodiest wars in the history of the Middle East.

More than 1 million people died in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, triggered by disputes over the two countries' border.

After that war, Iran and Iraq both agreed to abide by the Algiers agreement, which had been signed in 1975 by Iraq's then-Vice President Saddam Hussein and the shah of Iran and defined the border between the two countries.

On Tuesday Talabani was asked by a journalist during a televised conference whether the treaty was still in force.

"This treaty has been voided by the current government," he replied. "This was a treaty between Saddam and the shah and not a treaty between Iraq and Iran. We previously expressed our rejection of the treaty during visits to Iran.