Zarif Reiterates Iran’s Support for Iraqi Nation
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif voiced Tehran’s continued support for the Iraqi nation, and called for collective effort to fight terrorism in the region.
“Iran has always supported legitimate governments in Iraq,” Zarif said on Sunday upon his arrival in Baghdad.
He voiced satisfaction about political process in Iraq with the election of the country's president, parliament speaker and prime minister.
As regards Iran-Iraq ties, Zarif said Tehran and Baghdad have broad and deep-rooted relations, and Iran is determined to support the democratic process, territorial integrity and national unity in Iraq.
Elsewhere, Zarif pointed to growing threat of terrorism in the region, and said, “Countering terrorism needs collective effort by all countries."
Terrorism is a common threat to all regional countries and is not an ethnic or sectarian strife, Zarif said, referring to the acts of terrorism committed by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.
The ISIL is a militant group that claims as an independent state the territory of Iraq and Syria, with implied future claims intended over more of the Levant, including Lebanon, occupied Palestine, Jordan, Cyprus, and Southern Turkey.
In addition to attacks on government and military targets, the group has claimed responsibility for attacks that have killed thousands of Iraqi civilians.
In early June, following its large-scale offensives in Iraq, ISIL seized control of most parts of Mosul, the second most populous city in Iraq and its surrounding Nineveh province.
On Wednesday, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham had told reporters in Tehran that Iran is holding consultations with different countries, including the European states, to coordinate efforts aimed at fighting with the ISIL terrorist group operating in Iraq.
