German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier flew in on a surprise trip to Iraq on Tuesday, in the first such visit for more than 20 years ago, Iraqi officials said. Steinmeier is due to meet President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki during his trip, which comes exactly a week after a surprise mission by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Like France, Germany was an opponent of the US-led invasion of 2003, which toppled Saddam Hussein's regime. Steinmeier was chief of staff to then-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder when the war broke out.