Baghdad: Hussain Athab visited Iran thrice after the fall of Saddam Hussain in 2003. The political science professor took in Iran's religious sites and admired Iraq's bigger, richer and stronger Shiite neighbour to the east.

But his esteem for Iran's government has since plummeted due to what he and many others here view as Iranian meddling and subversion in his native city of Basra.

"We thought Iran would extend the hand of friendship," said Athab, himself a Shiite. "But it looks like Iran considers Iraq a playing card, and we don't want to be used as a playing card."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrives on Sunday in an Iraq far more leery of his country than in the period soon after the collapse of Saddam's vehemently anti-Iranian regime.

Publicly, Iraq's politicians welcome the firebrand president's arrival. He is the first leader of a Middle East country to visit Baghdad and grant Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki's government the international recognition it craves.

But privately, Iraqi officials say Ahmadinejad and the adventurous clique surrounding him are part of the problem.

Iraqis would prefer a visit by a less divisive and bellicose figure, such as reformist former president Mohammad Khatami or Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, regarded as a pragmatist. "We know that Ahmadinejad is a controversial figure and we have seen some policy changes since the time of Khatami," said Athab.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who visited Tehran last June, is due to host Ahmadinejad.

"The visit of the Iranian delegation to Iraq will be hosted by the government of Iraq," said Rear Admiral Gregory J. Smith. "The United States has no role in the visit."

Many conclude that Iraq has become a battleground in a 30-year feud between the United States and Iran, and that Tehran has few qualms about sacrificing Iraqi lives and stability for its strategic goals.

Paying in blood

"There's a problem because the Iranians feel threatened by the Americans, and they want to act tit-for-tat with the Americans," said Haydar Abadi, a high-ranking adviser to Al Maliki's government. Both belong to the Dawa Party, which Iran sheltered during Hussain's rule. "Whenever Americans pressure Iran outside Iraq, the Iranians respond in Iraq. We're paying for this in blood."

Abadi and other Iraqi leaders said they would use Ahmadinejad's visit as an opportunity to warn Iranians about their behaviour in Iraq.

"It is not in their interest to have the Iraqis as their enemies. Ahmadinejad will be told that we cannot have good neighbourly relations while Iraqis are being killed by Iranian bombs," said Abadi.

Iraqi officials are also struggling to defuse what they view as the rationale for Iran's transgressions: the fear that the US troop presence in Iraq will be used to undermine the Tehran government.

"Instead of being a court of conflict and clashes between the two countries, officials in Iraq are still putting great efforts to improve this relationship between the three parties," said Shaikh Hamid Muala, a lawmaker who is a member of the Supreme Assembly of Islamic Iraq, the party led by Abdul Aziz Al Hakim and his clan.

Qassem Dawoud, an independent lawmaker with close ties to the Shiite clerical leadership in Najaf, said: "We really are looking forward to a period when [very high level Iranian] influence should disappear."

Abadi also said Iranians are interfering in Iraq's domestic politics, supporting one faction over another with infusions of cash.

"This guy came to power by a democratic election," said Khudair Khuzai, Iraq's Minister of Education and a confidante of Al Maliki. "Whether he's radical or moderate, the Iranian people chose him."