TEHRAN, March 3 (RIA Novosti) - Iran's president said on Monday the results of his first official visit to Baghdad would help to strengthen Iraq's role in the Middle East.

"Our enemies are afraid of rapprochement, and the broadening of cooperation and interaction between Iran and Iraq. They don't want our countries to use their rich potential," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told journalists after his two-day visit to Iraq.

"However, the Iranian delegation's visit only made our countries closer, and this will significantly influence global and in particular regional changes," he said, adding that "occupying forces" are trying to weaken the Iraqi government and prevent the country from turning into a sovereign state.

He also said Iran and Iraq had signed seven new agreements.

Ahmadinejad is the first Iranian president to visit Iraq since Iran's Islamic Revolution in 1979.