Senior US diplomat Christopher Hill, President Barack Obama's pick for US ambassador to Iraq, said in Washington on Wednesday that Iran is a "real problem" for the stability of Iraq.

US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for his nomination to be the US ambassador to Iraq, on Capitol Hill in Washington, March 25, 2009. [Zhang Yan/Xinhua]

Speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Hill said that his top priorities in Iraq include to help Iraq hold successful parliamentary elections, pass a long-delayed law on oil revenue-sharing, and improve relations between Iraq and its neighboring countries.

However, Hill said: "The real problem in the region for Iraq remains its ancient neighbor, Iran." He said once an ongoing review of US-Iran relations concludes that he should pursue high-level contacts with Iranian diplomats, he would be "most pleased to do that".

Hill was Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, and worked for almost four years as the chief of the US delegation to the so-called six-party talks, a multilateral mechanism on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, before he got the new assignment in late February.

(Xinhua News Agency March 26, 2009)