Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said his country will never allow any foreign country to control it.
He specifically denied that Iran had any influence over Iraq or over any part of the capital, Baghdad.
Mr Maliki was speaking at a joint news conference in the Jordanian capital, Amman, with US President George W Bush.
The two men met this morning for talks about ways of tackling the growing violence in Iraq.
Last night, a dinner meeting was cancelled by the Iraqi leader, although US officials denied the move was a snub after a leaked White House memo raised doubts over Mr Maliki's ability to control the escalating violence in Iraq.
Today's meeting came as the bi-partisan Iraq Study Group announced in Washington that it had reached a consensus on its recommendations for policy changes in Iraq and would release its report next Wednesday.
Separately, the US military announced it intends to increase troop levels in Iraq by three battalions.
