President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today told the United States, Britain and other foreign powers to leave the region as he wrapped up an historic trip to Iraq that demonstrated Iran’s growing influence across its western border.

“We believe that the major powers who have come to the region from thousands of kilometres away should respect the will of nations and leave this region,” the Iranian leader told reporters in Baghdad.

“That's the best service they can offer these nations,” he said, without naming any foreign power in particular. The United States has 158,000 troops in Iraq, while Britain has 4,100, largely based near the Iranian border in the south of the country.

The comments came at the end of a divisive two-day trip to Baghdad by Mr Ahmadinejad, the first by an Iranian leader since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. He also became the first regional leader to visit Iraq since the 2003 invasion.

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Given the full red-carpet treatment by the Shia-led Iraqi Government, which has close ties to Iran, the President was viewed with distrust and at times outward contempt by members of the country’s once-powerful Sunni Arab minority, many of who believe he is in Iraq only to further his own interests.

The United States, which noticeably had nothing to do with the Iranian visit, also doubts Iran’s intentions, accusing Tehran of funding and equipping Shia militias that kill US troops and undermine the Iraqi Government.

The Iranian President, a vociferous critic of George Bush, rejected such claims, saying that they were based on bad facts. “Of course American officials make such remarks and such statements, and we do not care about their statements and remarks because they make statements on the basis of erroneous information. And we cannot count on what they say.”

Upping tensions between the two adversaries, Washington is also seeking a third round of UN sanctions on Tehran because of its nuclear enrichment programme. The UN Security Council is to meet today to make a decision.

For Mr Ahmadinejad, he was focused on pressing Iran’s brotherly credentials and historic bonds with Iraq, declaring a new chapter in their relations. Ironically the renewed friendship was only made possible by the US-led invasion to topple Saddam Hussein, who took Iraq to war with Iran in the 1980s. The eight-year conflict left up to one million people dead.

In a sign of strengthened ties, Tehran and Baghdad signed seven pacts in areas such as industry, trade and transport. "We have discussed 20 programmes during the course of the visit and these meetings have been carried out in a positive atmosphere. We have signed seven memorandums of agreement today," Mr Ahmadinejad said. The agreements are related to "the development of relations and co-operation in the fields of insurance, customs, industry, education and transportation".

Trade between the two countries is booming. Iran is also building a big airport to service the millions of pilgrims who visit revered Shia shrines in the holy cities of Najaf and Karbala south of Baghdad.

Overnight, Mr Ahmadinejad paid a visit to another famous shrine in the Kadhimiya neighbourhood of Baghdad, the mausoleum of Imams Musa al-Kadhim and Mohammed al-Jawad. He spent more than an hour praying.

The Iranian leader, who is to fly home today, slept at the well-guarded residential compound of Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi President, after a series of meetings yesterday with officials, including Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister.

A massive security crackdown shut key roads in Baghdad for a second day as well as the main highway to the airport to keep the President protected as he moved around. Despite such measures, two car bombs exploded in separate parts of the city, away from Mr Ahmadinejad, killing at least 23 people and wounding dozens more.

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