The meeting began just as Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki arrived in Iran on a visit aimed at winning Tehran's full support for restoring security to his country and continuing talks with the United States.

"Our aim is to help the Iraqi people overcome this crisis and to preserve their territory," said Syrian Interior Minister Bassam Abdel-Majid, whose country is accused by the United States of fomenting unrest in Iraq.

"We feel great suffering in the face of terrorist acts, murders and destruction that are perpetrated in Iraq," the minister said, adding that his country had taken steps to ensure security in there.

"We have reinforced border controls with the aim of halting the illegal passage of people and of prohibited goods," he said, while complaining that promises by unnamed donors to provide nightime surveillance equipment had gone unfulfilled.

Even so, he said a "large number of foreigners and Syrians who tried to cross the border have been stopped."

In the end, though, he said "all of these measures will be insufficient if they are taken only on side of the border. Border control is the common responsibility of (both) the neighbouring states."