Amman- Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir met Saturday with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari and expressed Amman's concerns over the latest developments in Iraq.

"Bashir expressed Jordan's concerns over the current situation in Iraq which threatened to undermine stability in the region," an official statement said.

The Jordanian minister referred to the latest flare-up of suicide bombings in Iraq and the ongoing confrontation between Iraqi troops and militias of radical Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr in the southern Basra area.

Bashir "underscored the importance of the Arab role in supporting Iraq's unity, sovereignty and stability" but said that "solutions should emanate in the first place from inside Iraq aloof of foreign interventions."

He referred to the reported Iranian meddling in internal Iraqi affairs that prompted US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to call on Arab countries recently to step in to contain the Iranian role by opening diplomatic missions in Baghdad.

Bashir promised Zebari that the Hashemite Kingdom would continue to host more than 500,000 Iraqis until circumstances permitted them to return home. (dpa)