President Rouhani: Iraq PM visit to Iran milestone in bilateral ties

President Hassan Rouhani says the visit to Iran by Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi — the latter’s first foreign trip in the capacity — will serve as a “milestone” in bilateral ties between the two neighbors.

“I am positive that this trip functions as a milestone in [the process of] development of the two friendly and brotherly countries’ relations,” President Rouhani said at a joint press conference with Kadhimi in Tehran on Tuesday after a face-to-face meeting with the premier, Press TV reported.

The Iraqi prime minister arrived in the Iranian capital earlier in the day at the head of a high-ranking politico-economic delegation at Rouhani’s invitation. Upon arrival, the Iraqi delegation was welcomed by Iran’s Energy Minister Reza Ardakanian before an official ceremony at the Saadabad complex in Tehran.

Kadhimi, who assumed his country’s premiership in May, had planned to visit Saudi Arabia on his first official trip, but he postponed the visit on account of Saudi King Salman’s hospitalization for “some medical tests.”

$20-billion trade in focus

After welcoming the Iraqi delegation and expressing gratitude towards Kadhimi for accepting his invitation, Rouhani said his administration was determined to take the volume of Iran and Iraq’s annual bilateral trade to $20 million.

The president acknowledged that Kadhimi took over Iraq’s premiership “in very sensitive circumstances.” Nevertheless, his incumbency so far has witnessed “a favorable movement [forward]” in the development of the countries’ bilateral trade, Rouhani added.

The chief executive also said the Islamic Republic was capable of providing Iraq with whatever it needed in terms of sanitary and medical requirements in the face of the new coronavirus outbreak.

Rouhani also honored the memory of “the two heroes of anti-terrorism fight,” Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Second-in-Command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) counter-terrorism force.

The visit by al-Kadhimi, who has defined Iraq’s sovereignty as his redline, came after the Arab country’s Supreme Judicial Council said Baghdad regarded the US assassination of the duo on its soil as a criminal act. The Council also said Baghdad and Tehran would jointly sue the United States over the atrocity.

Rouhani said General Soleimani and Abu Muhandis were among those “who strove towards Iraq’s security over the past years,” adding that his talks with Kadhimi also featured “the role that Iraq can play as a powerful country in the region” among other issues that concern the regional affairs and stability.

SS