Tehran Rejects Reports on Iraq Talks with Riyadh

In a statement, Iran’s embassy in Riyadh dismissed reports by some Arab and Western newspapers on the visit of an Iranian delegation to Saudi Arabia as "baseless".

“The establishment of the Iraqi government and choosing a prime minister is a domestic issue related to the people and political parties of the country (Iraq), which will be naturally carried out on the basis of the country’s Constitution and in accordance with the results of the recent election,” said the statement.

Iraq has been gripped by a turmoil as political factions fail to establish a new government.

The National Reform headed by al-Jaafari had earlier announced that the National Coalition had not reached a consensus on a candidate for the post of prime minister. That is while Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law Coalition has reiterated that Maliki is their sole option for the prime minister.

Incumbent Prime Minister Maliki announced on Friday that he would never leave the office because of the trust Iraqi nation put on him.

According to the Iraqi Constitution, if the parliament succeeds to elect a new speaker and two deputies, the next step should be choosing new president within the next 30 days.

Following that, the new head of state will have half of a month to ask the bloc with the most lawmakers to nominate a prime minister, who will be responsible for forming a new government.

The duration for the prime minister-designate to select his cabinet members, and present the list to the parliament is 30 days.