"Syrian President Bashar Asad's planned visit to Iran has been called off at the last minute, due to confusions in planning his visit to several capitals", explained the government official spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, without giving any new date for the trip.

A spokesman at the Syrian Foreign Affairs Ministry said that (Iranian) media reports on the exact official date for the visit by Mr. Asad to Tehran "had not been accurate". "The (Asad's) visit (to Tehran) has never been scheduled" the official added, without giving any reason for the sudden cancellation of the visit. Even the Iranian Foreign Affairs Ministry, which, earlier, had announced the date of Mr. Asad’s visit, said on Wednesday "nothing had been planned officially".

For his part, the embattled Iranian President Mohammad Khatami also told journalists that the date of Mr. Asad’s visit to Tehran had been fixed and said he ignores why the media had expressed certainty, ignoring the fact that the date of 15 January came from the Iranian Foreign Ministry, prompting Tehran morning dailies to reserve it due place, going as far as highlighting that the Syrian President is coming to Tehran "with a message from Arab leaders".

Mr. Asad was officially due in Tehran on Wednesday and meet the Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, a sign of the importance the Iranians had attached to the trip, and discuss with him, besides their mutual relationship, the Iraqi crisis and the Palestinian issue

Turkish and Egyptian sources confirmed that both countries are working plans to create an Arab and Islamic pressure group, with Cairo at it centre, to persuade the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hoseyn to leave Baghdad and make room for the transitional solution which was worked out at the conference that was held in London on 14 December with the participation of almost all Iraqi opposition forces, including the mainstream Kurdish and Shi’a parties.

While Cairo and Ankara are Washington’s allies, Tehran, on the other hand, is on the American list of "evil states" that also includes the Ba’sist Iraq and Communist North Korea.

Assad's visit to Tehran was cancelled amid intensified diplomatic movement in the region. Last week, the Iranian capital received high-ranking officials from Kuwait, Turkey as well as Mr. Jalal Talebani, the leader of the Patriotic Union of (Iraqi) Kurdistan, who, on behalf of un-named American officials, he offered "guarantees" that in case the United States attacks Iraq, no harm would be done to Iran.

The London-based Arabic newspaper Al Qods reported that Syria is not satisfied with Iran's stand on Iraq. "There are those in Damascus who believe that Tehran and Washington have made a secret deal regarding Iraq", the paper said.

Although both Damascus and Tehran oppose U.S. intervention in Iraq, but Baghdad is a traditional regional rival to both. During the 1980-88 Iraqi-Iranian war, Damascus sided with Tehran and in turn, received one million ton of crude per year gratis plus hefty discount on five other million tons of Iranian oil, that Syria sold on the international market rate.

The tow capitals also support Arab and Palestinian groups opposed to peace with Israel, most particularly the Lebanese Shi’ite-based Hezbollah and the Islamic Jihad of Palestine.

"Though it is not exactly clear what caused the postponement of President Asad’s visit to Tehran, but there is no doubt that in the short time at least, relations between Tehran and Damascus would enter a zone of turbulence, an Iranian source said.

The visit would have been Asad's second to Iran since he came to power in 2000. ENDS ASAD VISIT CANCELLED 15103