President Zardari heads for Iran talks

TEHRAN: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari was due in Tehran on Saturday for talks with officials expected to include his Iranian counterpart President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

Iranian officials have given few details of the talks' agenda. Iran's ambassador to Pakistan Mashala Shokri said only that they would address "bilateral relations and regional issues."

But the visit comes less than a month after Zardari was in Tehran for a counter-terrorism summit on the sidelines of which Iran and Pakistan agreed to cooperate with Afghanistan in the fight against militants.

Zardari's visit, on which he was to be accompanied by Interior Minister Rehman Malik, also comes after Washington announced it was deferring $800 million in military aid to Islamabad while it sought better defence cooperation.