President Raisi Tells PM Kadhimi in Tehran:

Iraq Closest Nation to Iran

Date: 26 June 2022 - 21:27

News ID: ۱۰۴۱۴۴

TEHRAN — Iraq’s caretaker prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi arrived in Iran on Sunday at the head of a political and economic delegation and was officially received by Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi.
The Iraqi leader arrived in Tehran from the Saudi city of Jeddah which he visited on Saturday to meet with the kingdom’s officials.
“We have agreed to work together to bring stability and calm to the region,” Kadhimi said in a joint televised news conference with President Raisi.
The Iraqi leader said he came to Tehran to discuss bilateral relations between Iran and Iraq, adding the two sides also discussed historical, cultural and religious relations between the two neighbors.
“Our relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran are very important and proceeding within the framework of the interests of the two countries, and our efforts in this direction are to ensure the interests of the nations,” he was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.
Al-Kadhimi said: “Today we agreed to strengthen trade relations and set a timetable to facilitate pilgrimage by those who intend to visit the shrine of Imam Hussein (AS)” during the Arabaeen – mourning ceremonies marking 40 days since the anniversary of the Imam’s martyrdom.
He said until now, Iranian pilgrims could receive visas at Iraqi airports, but in recent weeks, Iraq has provided the opportunity for Iranian pilgrims to receive visa up to a certain quota at the border crossings of the two countries.
The Iraqi prime minister said he also discussed challenges facing the region and agreed to work together to establish stability and peace.
“There was talk today about crucial issues facing the nations of the region, and it was agreed to declare our support for a ceasefire in Yemen,” he said, adding “it was also agreed to declare our support for the principle of dialogue to end the war

that has afflicted the Yemeni people”.

The two sides also agreed to increase their joint efforts to tackled challenges in the field of food security due to the war in Ukraine, Kadhimi said.

President Raisi thanked the prime minister of the “friendly and brotherly” country of Iraq for visiting the Islamic Republic, calling his visit a “turning point” in promoting bilateral relations.

“Our relations with Iraq are not ordinary and traditional, but very deep that are rooted in the culture of the two nations and their beliefs,” he said, adding there is a strong will among the officials of the two countries to develop relations in all areas.

“In line with the policy of expanding relations with our neighbors, we see Iraq as the closest nation to Iran and we have the closest relations with Iraq in various fields,” Raisi added.

The president said Iran has the biggest bilateral relationship with Iraq among its neighbors, adding the two sides discussed political, economic and trade relations and agreed to expand them further.

“The Shalamcheh railway connection to Basra was one of the topics discussed and it was agreed that the project should be completed as soon as possible to facilitate relations between the two countries.”

The two sides also agreed to take new steps toward facilitating monetary and banking relations, Raisi added.

“We were beside the Iraqi people during their difficult days and we will always be together. This interest and connection will never cool. It will expand day by day.”

Regarding the relationship between the countries of the region, Raisi said, both sides believe that dialogue among the regional officials can resolve the problems and that foreign intervention in the region “is problematic, not problem-solving”.

It was also emphasized that the siege of Yemen should be lifted and the country’s problems should be resolved through dialogue among the Yemeni groups in order to put an end to the suffering its people, he said.

“We consider the continuation of this war fruitless and believe that it will bring nothing but suffering to the people. This war must end as soon as possible.”

President Raisi further touched on the occupying regime of Israel’s efforts to normalize relations with the countries of the region, saying they will not bring security for the regime in any way.

“We believe that peace and tranquility in the region will prevail with the role which officials of the whole region play,” he said, adding the normalization of relations with the Zionist regime and the presence of foreigners in the region will not solve any problem but add more to the problems.

Iran and Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties in 2016 after Saudi Arabia executed prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Iraq has been mediating between the two countries to mend up fences.

Over the past year, Iraq has hosted several rounds of talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The Saudi-Iran talks aimed at defusing yearslong tensions began quietly in Iraq’s capital in 2021. Saudi Arabia sought a way to end its disastrous war in Yemen. The conflict has spawned one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters and brought bombs from Yemeni drones and missiles raining down on Saudi airports and oil facilities.

Iran and Saudi Arabia support opposite sides in conflicts in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East. Iraq borders both Iran and Saudi Arabia.

A fifth and last round of talks was held in Baghdad in April before they were suspended again amid soaring Middle East tensions.

On Saturday, Kadhimi held talks with Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman in Jeddah that the state news agency SPA said included bilateral relations and “boosting security and stability in the region”.

Earlier, an Iraqi cabinet minister said that Kadhimi believed that “reconciliation is near” between the regional countries and felt confident he could mend ties between the two countries.

“The official visit... comes in the context of the talks that Riyadh and Tehran recently held in Baghdad,” the source within the prime minister’s cabinet said in a statement.

He said those talks “represented a road map for mending relations and returning to the right course of strengthening bilateral relations” between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The source added that the visits are “not related to internal Iraqi political affairs and the talks about the formation of the new government have nothing to do with the visit”.

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said his country and Iran would be “neighbors forever” and that it was “better for both of us to work it out and to look for ways in which we can coexist”.