Iran to Help Iraq Live through Problems

"The Iranian government and people will remain beside the Iraqi government and nation to move through the problems and challenges," Jahangiri said during the conversation on Sunday.

Abdul-Mahdi, for his part, described relations between Tehran and Baghdad as special and unique, saying that the two countries' ties bear much fruit for both nations given their brotherly and religious bounds.

"We rely on these constructive ties and try to make progress together because Iran's progress means progress for Iraq and vice versa," he added.

Iran and Iraq have expanded their close ties in recent years after overthrowing the dictator regime of Saddam Hussein.

Secretary-General of the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce Hamid Hosseini announced earlier this month that Iran's export to Iraq had registered a 45% growth in the first half of the current Iranian year (started on March 21).

According to the same source, while Iraq was the third export destination of Iranian goods and commodities, bilateral trade between the two countries had witnessed noticeable rise in the aforementioned period and now Iraq has "moved up to the second place in this year".

"Iraq's import from Iran was $4.5b in the period, while that of China, the table topper in the list, was $4.6b in the same period," he quoted the figures, adding that the wee difference implies that Iraq may surpass China to the top of the list.

Hosseini also said that Iran has been the third provider of goods to Iraq, after China and Turkey. He voiced hope that the statistics and figures are recounting a trend that would lead to Iran's surpassing Turkey in Iraqi market.

According to Hosseini while Iran's export grew 14% in the half-year period between March 21 and September 22, the country's export to Iraq upped 45% in the same period.

To some experts, the rise in Iran's export to Iraq can be attributed to the victory of the Iraqi forces against ISIL terrorists, which led to the return of four, out of the six, million refugees to their homes, which provided a greater opportunity for Iran's presence in the market of food and construction materials in northern Iraq.

Referring to the US sanctions on Iran, Hosseini said that the only pressure the US can impose on Iraq is in the area of banking transactions with Iran. "And that's because 45% of the biggest Iraqi bank is owned by US JPMorgan Chase," he asserted.

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