AMMAN (AFP) -- Iraq’s Shia Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki denied Thursday that Iran had any influence over Iraq or any part of the embattled capital Baghdad.

“I believe that such information is not true and exaggerated,” Maliki said at a joint news conference with U.S. President George W. Bush, when asked about Iranian influence and interference in his war-ravaged country.

”Interference or influence of Iran in Iraq is not true,” he said.

Maliki said Iraq favors “good bilateral relations with all our neighbors as well as ties that complete one another in order to protect the region from tensions”.

“But all this must be based on respect for Iraq’s borders and non-interference in its internal affairs,” he stressed.

He also warned that Iraq would never allow any foreign control of his war-wracked country.

“We have repeatedly said, and we reaffirm once more, that we will never allow anyone to control any part of Iraq,” Maliki said.