 Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi (L) walks with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari after arriving at Baghdad International Airport during a visit to Iraq. AP photo |
Iran's acting foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, held meetings in Iraq on Wednesday for a trip aimed at boosting bilateral ties between the two neighbors, a report said.
“Iran provides the Iraqi government and [its] nation with all-out support,” the Iranian Republic News Agency, or IRNA, quoted Salehi as saying to reporters upon his arrival in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. “Iran endorses strengthening sustainable security in Iraq and the country's independence and national sovereignty,” the Iranian official added.
Salehi was scheduled to hold talks with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on the expansion of mutual ties and the latest regional and international developments as Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to press Wednesday evening.
"Iran believed in Iraq's territorial integrity, stability and independence," Salehi said at a press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari. The Iraqi foreign minister, for his part, described relations between Tehran and Baghdad as “positive” and called for boosting “broad” relations between the two neighbors.
The trip to the Iraqi capital was Salehi's second international visit as Iran's acting foreign minister after he was appointed to the post last month by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He made his first international visit to Turkey a few weeks ago.
Salehi's appointment as foreign minister, which is yet to be ratified by the Iranian Parliament, came after Ahmadinejad sacked his predecessor, Manouchehr Mottaki.
Iran has regularly called for U.S. troops to leave war-torn Iraq, citing their presence as the main cause of violence in its western neighbor. Iran and Saddam Hussein's Iraq fought a bloody eight-year war in the 1980s that left almost a million people dead on both sides.
Ties between predominantly Shiite Iran and Shiite-led Iraqi coalition government have warmed considerably since the overthrow of Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime in a U.S.-led invasion in 2003, a development that raises eyebrows in Washington.
“Iran provides the Iraqi government and [its] nation with all-out support,” the Iranian Republic News Agency, or IRNA, quoted Salehi as saying to reporters upon his arrival in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. “Iran endorses strengthening sustainable security in Iraq and the country's independence and national sovereignty,” the Iranian official added.
Salehi was scheduled to hold talks with Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on the expansion of mutual ties and the latest regional and international developments as Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to press Wednesday evening.
"Iran believed in Iraq's territorial integrity, stability and independence," Salehi said at a press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari. The Iraqi foreign minister, for his part, described relations between Tehran and Baghdad as “positive” and called for boosting “broad” relations between the two neighbors.
The trip to the Iraqi capital was Salehi's second international visit as Iran's acting foreign minister after he was appointed to the post last month by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He made his first international visit to Turkey a few weeks ago.
Salehi's appointment as foreign minister, which is yet to be ratified by the Iranian Parliament, came after Ahmadinejad sacked his predecessor, Manouchehr Mottaki.
Iran has regularly called for U.S. troops to leave war-torn Iraq, citing their presence as the main cause of violence in its western neighbor. Iran and Saddam Hussein's Iraq fought a bloody eight-year war in the 1980s that left almost a million people dead on both sides.
Ties between predominantly Shiite Iran and Shiite-led Iraqi coalition government have warmed considerably since the overthrow of Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime in a U.S.-led invasion in 2003, a development that raises eyebrows in Washington.
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