Envoy:

Iraq Strategic Ally, Reliable Friend for Iran

TEHRAN (defapress)- Iranian Ambassador to Baghdad Iraj Masjedi described Iraq as a strategic partner and reliable friend for Iran as President Hassan Rouhani started his important visit to the Arab neighbor on Monday.

News ID: 76122

Date: 11 March 2019 - 15:27

"Today, Iraq which was for tens of years considered as the most important security threat to Iran and the enemies of our territories used it as a leverage to pressure and threaten Iran, has turned into a strategic partner and reliable friend and the borders of the two countries have turned into the borders of friendship, cooperation and stability," Masjedi wrote in a memo in the Persian-language Iran newspaper on Monday.

He added that the historical visit by President Rouhani and the accompanying high-ranking delegation to Iraq is a turning point in bilateral relations.

Masjedi said during the visit, the two sides will talk and exchange views on the further expansion of economic and trade exchanges, implementation of joint technical and engineering projects, facilitating the traffic of both countries' nationals and development of industrial cooperation.

President Rouhani arrived in Iraq on Monday in order to boost bilateral ties between the two neighbors amid the US sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Rouhani traveled to Baghdad to hold talks with Iraqi officials. A high-ranking delegation is accompanying the president.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his deputy Seyed Abbas Araqchi as well as Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh and Central Bank Governor Abdoldnasser Hemmati have all - in their recent trips to Iraq - made preparations for Rouhani's upcoming visit.

It is Rouhani’s first visit to Iraq during his tenure.

Zarif who has traveled to Baghdad on Saturday to make preparations for the visit said that third party interference might not leave a negative impact on the relations between Tehran and Baghdad.

“Iran and Iraq are two neighboring states and no other country is entitled to meddle with the historical ties between these two neighbors,” Zarif told reporters in Baghdad on Saturday night, adding that those third-party states which seek to undermine the Tehran-Baghdad ties through meddling “are wasting time and may not affect the Iran-Iraq relations through such interferences”.

The minister said the two states’ officials are due to discuss expansion of cooperation in various economic, transit, energy and industrial grounds during President Rouhani’s visit to Iraq, adding that the trip would end up in the conclusion of serious agreements between the two countries.

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