Speaking in his meeting with visiting Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein on Sunday, Rear Admiral Shamkhani reiterated, “Iran expects the Iraqi government to pursue the US cowardly assassination of former IRGC Quds Force Commander Qassem Soleimani and Second-in-Command Iraqi’s Popular Mobilization Unit (PMU) through the international communities.”
In this meeting, the two sides discussed about the bilateral, regional and international issues.
Shamkhani pointed to the stabilizing capacity of regional countries which can be realized under the auspices of regional talks and cooperation and without the interference of transregional forces and emphasized the need for collective cooperation.
Turning to the normalization of some Arab countries with the Zionist regime, pressured by the United States, he reiterated, “This tie normalization of some regional countries with the Zionist regime is a clear violation of rights of Palestinian people. In addition to spreading insecurity and creating division among regional countries, such heinous move will face the entity of compromising countries with serious danger.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, Shamkhani termed the important bilateral agreements inked between Tehran and Baghdad ‘strategic’ and added, “With the acceleration of fully implementing these agreements, in addition to promoting level of relations between the two countries, a successful model of all-out cooperation can be presented.”
He termed the US assassination of Iran’s top commander Soleimani and Second-in-Command Iraq’s PMU Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis as a clear example of state terrorism and emphasized, “Immediate expulsion of US terrorist forces from the region is the least punishment expected by the Iranian government on the perpetrators of this heinous act.”
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein, for his part, pointed to the serious determination of his country in developing its relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and added, “The Iraqi government and people will never forget the unsparing supports and self-sacrifices of Iranian people especially zealous and brave Iranian youth in the fight against ISIL and Takfiri terrorist groups in Iraq.”
The two friend and neighboring countries of Iran and Iraq share abundant commonalities with each other, he said, “During Iran-Iraq war, which was dragged for about eight years, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein could not create any division between the two nations and this is good evidence that no foreign country can leave negative impact in amicable relations of the two countries.”
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