Iraqi President Abdel Latif Rashid paid an official visit to Iran on Saturday to strengthen relations between the two countries, much to the chagrin of the United States.
During this visit, the two countries decided to strengthen their economic and security cooperation. Iraq is Iran’s second economic partner after China, reminds our correspondent in Tehran, Siavosh Ghazi. Tehran supplies Iraq with gas and electricity, but also everyday consumer products. The two countries have decided to increase the volume of gas supplied.
Iran also supports Shiite groups that are fighting the presence of Americans in Iraq and Syria. Moreover, the Iranian president and the supreme guide declared that the American presence in Iraq was a source of insecurity. “ The presence of the United States disrupts the security of the region “, lambasted Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. “ Americans are not friends with anyone. Even the presence of a single American in Iraq is too “said Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during his meeting with the Iraqi President. The United States still has 2,500 military personnel in the country. Some 900 American soldiers also remain in Syria, most of them in the Kurdish-administered northeast.
Better control Iraqi Kurdistan
This visit comes after that of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Chia al-Soudani, a Shiite close to Tehran. Iraq has pledged to better control its border between Iraqi Kurdistan and Iran to prevent the operations of Iranian Kurdish groups based in this region. Iran has also carried out several strikes against the bases of Kurdish groups in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Although Iraq and Iran fought an eight-year war in the 1980s, relations between the two predominantly Shiite neighbors calmed down considerably after the fall of Saddam Hussein and his Sunni-dominated regime.
(And with AFP)