BAGHDAD (Dispatches) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian has discussed security cooperation with Iraqi sides during his visit to Baghdad, stressing that this cooperation will improve the security and stability of both countries.
The Iranian minister held separate meetings with a number of Iraqi officials on Thursday, discussing a range of topics of mutual interests, including security cooperation.
Talking with Iraq’s national security advisor Qassim al-Araji, Amir-Abdollahian said he was pleased that Iran and Iraq have succeeded in forming a high-security committee to dispel some existing concerns in the Iraqi Kurdistan region.
He said Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani will travel to Iraq soon to sign a security cooperation agreement with Baghdad.
He said the presence of any anti-Iran group in the Iraqi Kurdistan region is “unacceptable” which poses a threat to both Iran and Iraq and even the Kurdistan region.
For his part, al-Araji described recent plots against the Islamic Republic of Iran as a delusion, stressing that any threat from Iraq’s soil to Iran will be “unacceptable and deplorable”.
The Iraqi advisor also pointed to the importance of regional cooperation, noting that if interactions among regional countries are improved, there will be no room for the presence of extra-regional countries.
Anti-Iranian terrorist groups residing in the Iraqi Kurdistan region have increased their malign activities, especially in border areas. Responding to the activities, Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has launched several rounds of airstrikes against their positions since September 24 last year, vowing to continue attacks till the groups are unarmed.
Iran has, on countless occasions, warned the Iraqi Kurdistan’s local authorities that it will not tolerate the presence and activity of terrorist groups along its northwestern borders, saying the country will give a decisive response should those areas become a hub of anti-Islamic Republic terrorists.

Amir-Abdollahian also held talks with Faleh al-Fayyad, head of Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi.
Expressing gratitude for the efforts and struggles of Hashd al-Sha’abi forces in battling Daesh
and restoring stability and security to Iraq, he said stability and security in Iraq is Iran’s.
Fayyad, for his part, thanked Iran for its unwavering support for the establishment of stability on the borders and across the entire region, stressing the need for the Iranian and Iraqi governments to keep up security cooperation.
In a separate meeting with Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council Faiq Zidane, Amir-Abdollahian thanked Baghdad’s efforts to form a high-security committee between the two countries, noting that the presence of terrorist groups is a threat to all parties, including Baghdad.
The Iranian foreign minister also called on the Iraqi judiciary official to finalize their actions regarding the case of anti-terror commanders General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi Muhandis who were assassinated by US forces in January 2020.
Zidane, for his part, explained the inclusive judicial measures by the Iraqi side to issue an indictment against the perpetrators and orchestrators of the assassination, noting that Iraq is determined to put those who did the attack on trial.
The top Iranian diplomat held another meeting with Hadi al-Amiri, head of the Fatah (Conquest) Alliance, where the two sides discussed a range of issues of mutual interest.
“Future is bright and the best will come by the grace of God and efforts of all of us,” Amir-Abdollahian later wrote in a post on his Twitter account.