United Nations ? Iraqi leaders are certain their country will retain its alliance with the United States when Barack Obama becomes president, Iraq’s U.N. ambassador said Friday.

Ambassador Hamid al-Bayati said Iraqi officials have been meeting with Obama’s transition team, “and they assured us they’re going to listen to the experts on the ground – political, military experts – and even to Iraqi officials and Iraqi experts about the situation in Iraq.”

Asked whether Iraq expects an Obama administration to act differently from President George W. Bush’s administration on Middle East issues, al-Bayati said, “It’s too early to predict.”

But, he said, “We’re going to be allies regardless of who is the president.”