Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will visit Iran and Turkey next week to discuss security issues and the need for cooperation amid tensions with both countries.

The Shiite leader will lead a delegation to Turkey on Tuesday and to Iran on Wednesday "to discuss the bilateral relations between Iraq and these two countries in the political, economic and security fields," Iraq government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

Al-Dabbagh did not give more details, but the trips had been expected as Iraq seeks help from its neighbors in trying to end the rampant violence within its borders.

Al-Maliki's focus in Turkey is likely to be persuading it not to stage an incursion into the Kurdish north. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued the invitation to al-Maliki last month and warned the Turkish military would act if the United States and Iraqi leaders failed to stem the Kurdish terrorists operating from bases in northern Iraq.

It will be the prime minister's second trip to Iran since taking office in May 2006 as he appeals to the close ally of his Shiite-led government for help in calming the violence tearing apart Iraq and in developing Iraq's troubled oil industry.

Iraq also needs to balance its relationships with Iran and the United States - Tehran's top enemy.

Al-Maliki's Dawa Party is closely allied with Iran as are other Shiite parties in his government, and al-Maliki lived in Iran for part of his long exile during Saddam Hussein's rule. But Washington has accused Iran of fueling the violence in Iraq by training Shiite extremists and providing weapons for anti-U.S. activity. Tehran denies the allegations.

The Iraqi government has said it wants good relations with Iran while insisting there should be no interference in its internal affairs.

The U.S. and Iranian ambassadors to Iraq held rare talks in Baghdad on July 24 and agreed to set up a security subcommittee to carry forward talks on restoring stability in Iraq.