BAGHDAD (AP) Likely republican presidential nominee John McCain has pressed Iraq's prime minister on the need for political reform progress during a meeting in Baghdad.

Mccain also talked with Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki about the importance of distributing Iraq's oil-wealth equally.

The Arizona Senator is a strong supporter of the war. He says a joint U.S.-Iraq operation to clear Al-Qaida from its last urban stronghold in Mosul will be “very difficult and very important.”

New explosions have been reported in Baghdad today.