Iran Press/Iran news: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri made the announcement to reporters following a meeting in Tehran with his visiting Iraqi counterpart, Lieutenant General Othman al-Ghanimi, Tasnim News Agency reported.
The cooperation, Bagheri said, will be aimed at confronting aerial threats.
The meeting addressed "the integrated defense of Iranian and Iraqi skies because we might sense threats coming from the direction of [our] western borders," he added.
"Accordingly, it was agreed that the two countries’ air defense sectors work together and more coordination be made in this regard," the Iranian commander said.
Major General Bagheri said the two sides also agreed on potential training cooperation, the transfer of Iran’s defensive and military expertise to Iraq, and carrying out joint military exercises. Agreements on these, he added, will be finalized during a future visit by the Iraqi military chief.
Lieutenant General Ghanimi was in the Iranian capital as part of a delegation accompanying Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi. On Saturday, the delegation met with the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and President Hassan Rouhani.
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Bagheri cited the Iraqi commander as saying that Baghdad would be exercising stricter control on the United States’ military presence on its soil.
The American forces are only there to train Iraqis and their activities are under the Iraqi Army’s oversight, Bagheri added, citing Al-Ghanimi.
In his meeting with Ghanimi, Ayatollah Khamenei had stressed that the Iraqi government should make sure that US forces leave Iraq as soon as possible. 103/211/209
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