Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday expressed his hope for the success of the Iraqi referendum on draft constitution due to be held on Saturday.

"Hopefully, the referendum will be held successfully in Iraq and the Iraqi people will see full establishment of the government soon," Ahmadinejad was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying in a meeting with the visiting Iraqi Minister of Transport Salam Oudeh al-Maliki.

The president said that Iran was looking for an early end to the current dilemma in Iraq and a prompt beginning of a full reconstruction of the country, adding "I hope that the Iraqi people will leave behind the current ordeal proudly, overcome the difficulties and embrace freedom as they deserve to."

Ahmadinejad said that the current Iraqi unrest was mainly due to the continued presence of foreign troops and occupiers in the country, stressing that continued occupation would "cause division between Iraq and neighboring states".

Tehran has been enthusiastically urging the foreign troops to withdraw from Iraq, saying that the end of occupation was a necessary step helpful to the restoration of peace and stability in the war-torn country.

Source: Xinhua