Iran Press/Iran news: Hassan Rouhani’s trip starting on Monday includes meetings with Iraq’s president and prime minister, tours of Shi’ite Muslim holy sites and a meeting with top Iraqi Shi’ite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
Speaking at Mehrabad Airport before leaving Tehran, Rouhani said, “The goal of this visit is deepening bilateral relations,” Iran Press reported.
“Relations between Iran and Iraq are special,” said Rouhani, adding, “In the recent years, the people of Iran have passed a test with pride, and that is wherever the peoples of the region faced a problem and asked for the help of the Iranian nation and government, we rushed to help them.”
Hassan Rouhani at Mehrabad Airport before leaving Tehran for Baghdad on March 11
He continued, “There are many common grounds for cooperation between the two countries. We have been alongside the Iraqi people in their hard times, and today, which is the day of peace and security in the country, we are still by the side of the Iraqi nation.”
He said, “Iran considers relations with its neighbors as the most important issue in its foreign relations, and our neighbours want to have close, good relations with Iran.”
“Today, our economic cooperation amounts to $12 billion a year, and we can easily increase this to $20 billion in the coming years,” said Rouhani.
According to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Rouhani is scheduled to discuss political and economic cooperation in various fields including transit, energy, and industry with the Iraqi officials.
“In Iraq ahead of President Rouhani's 3-day State visit, featuring: -Meetings with political, religious, business, civil society leaders in Baghdad, Karbala, Najaf, and Multiple agreements on further regional, political and economic cooperation,” the Iranian foreign minister wrote in a post on his Twitter account while in Iraq on Sunday, a day before President Hassan Rouhani’s state visit to the neighboring country.
Zarif, who arrived in Iraq on Saturday evening, said Iran and Iraq shared not just a border but historical commonalities as well as interests.
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Iraq’s President Barham Salih said his country will not be part of a regime of unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States against Iran and will do its best to reduce the damage done to the Iranian nation as a result of the bans.
“Iraq insists that the interests of our friendly and neighboring country must be met. We will do our best to reduce tensions in this regard and decrease the damage that will be done to the Iranian nation,” Salih noted. 101
Read More:
Zarif: Iran and Iraq are pillars of regional security
