Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki will visit Jordan on Sunday as part of a tour to some neighboring and regional countries to seek support for his premiership and to urge those countries to keep equal distances from all Iraqi political parties, officials said. 'Maliki will start a visit today to Amman as the head of a high- ranking delegation to discuss the political issues in Iraq and in the Arab arena,' said Ali al-Dabbagh, the government spokesman. 'The prime minister will also visit Iran tomorrow on Monday to hold talks over regional and international issues,' Dabbagh said. Maliki's visits will also include Egypt and Turkey, Dabbagh said, adding that his visits are aimed at calling on those countries to take 'neutral stances' towards the Iraqi parties who are struggling to form the next Iraqi government, Dabbagh said. On Wednesday, Maliki paid a visit to Damascus and met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a bid to normalize the relations with the neighboring country after nearly a year of spat between the two countries that was sparked by massive bombings in Baghdad which the Iraqi government said were plotted in Syria. However, Damascus denied the accusations. Earlier in the month, Maliki criticized Iraq's neighboring countries for interfering in the formation of the country's new government, calling for all political rivals to join the negotiations to end the seven-month impasse. 'The external interference, particularly from the neighboring countries, reached to the level of rejecting or accepting certain persons to fill (government's) positions,' Maliki said. Maliki, fighting for another term for the prime minister post, is facing bitter resistance from his rival Ayad Allawi, head of the cross-sectarian political bloc who narrowly won the March 7 vote. However, Maliki seems getting closer to gaining a parliament majority to form a new government after he won over religious Shiite faction that once opposed his nomination for the head of the next government. 