He made the remarks in his meeting with Iraqi President Barham Salih late on Monday.
He termed Iraqi political structure ‘very progressive and strengthened’ and added, “the cultured and wise Iraqi people dragged the sedition of Takfiri terrorism to failure and identify their interests well and showed that they do not need the presence of foreigners in their country.”
He expressed hope that, with the participation and cooperation of political groups and religious - ethnic parties, the Iraqi government will undertake the administration of the country as soon as possible as backed by the will and determination of Iraqi people.
He emphasized the determination of senior leaders of the two countries of Iran and Iraq for development of political, economic and cultural ties and thanked the cooperation of the Iraqi president for accelerating the agreement made between the two countries.
While emphasizing Iraq as an independent country with sovereignty, Iraqi President Barham Salih, for his part, said, “in recent protests, Iraqi people had the right demands, including shortage of services and fight against the expansion of corruption. Therefore, reforms seemed necessary in the country and the government made its utmost efforts to meet the demands of people and managed to turn the current challenges into opportunity.”
Then, he pointed to the US assassination of Iran’s top commander Gen. Qasem Soleimani and Second-in-Command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and said, “martyrdom of the two commanders handed the heavy blow to the Axis of Resistance.”
He thanked Iran that has stood by the Iraqi people and government in difficult situations.
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani left Tehran for Baghdad on Sat. at the head of a high-ranking political and security delegation.
During the visit, Shamkhani held separate talks Caretaker Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, Parliament Speaker Mohamed al-Halbousim Chief of Iraq's Intelligence Service (IIS) Mustafa al-Kazemi, Iraq's National Security Adviser and the head of the PMU Falih al-Fayadh on bilateral political, security and economic issues as well as with other Iraqi political groups.
He then left Iraq for Tehran.
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