Iran, Iraq Stress Joint Efforts to Help Region
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – High-ranking officials from Iran and Iraq emphasized the need for exploitation of the two neighbors’ capacities to help improve the political and economic situation in the Middle East region.
In a Monday meeting in Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Iraq’s Oil Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi al-Muntafiki explored avenues for the enhancement of bilateral ties between Tehran and Baghdad.
The two ministers stressed the need for cooperation in the fight against terrorism, noting that other regional countries should also coordinate efforts to counter terrorist threats.
Iraq has been facing growing threat of terrorism, mainly posed by the ISIL terrorist group in recent months.
The ISIL militants made swift advances in much of northern and western Iraq over summer 2014, after capturing swaths of northern Syria.
However, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and the popular forces, who rushed to take arms after top Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling for fight against the militants, have blunted the edge of the ISIL offensive.
Amid the escalating situation in Iraq, Iran is known as the first country to help the Arab country and has always voiced support for Iraq’s solidarity and prosperity.
