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Leader: Iraq’s progress, independence important for Iran
Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks during a meeting with visiting Iraqi President Abdul Latif Rashid in Tehran on Saturday.
The Leader underlined that the expansion of bilateral cooperation and the implementation of agreements signed between the two neighboring countries are in the interest of both nations.
Earlier in the day, the Iraqi president held separate meetings with his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raeisi and Iran’s Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and participated in a meeting between high-ranking delegations of the two countries.
During the meeting, Raeisi said that enemies are not pleased with the improvement of relations between Iran and Iraq, stressing that enhanced mutual ties will serve the interests of the two nations and the entire region.
“Iran and Iraq will expand their interactions in proportion with the interests of the two countries in the region. Strengthening and consolidating relations between Tehran and Baghdad will secure the interests of the two nations and will also benefit the region,” Raeisi said.
Raeisi described the visit by his Iraqi counterpart to Tehran as a major step in improving relations and said both sides are implementing agreements, but “nevertheless, there are many capacities to boost relations in the political, economic and cultural fields.”
Raeisi stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation in the economic, energy, transit, transportation, trade exchanges and security sectors and urged both Tehran and Baghdad to accelerate the implementation of the existing agreements.
The Iraqi president, for his part, said Baghdad is keen to expand relations with Tehran and said the two sides enjoy diverse capacities to develop economic, political, cultural cooperation and trade exchanges.
At the end of the meeting, both presidents signed a security agreement.
Leading a high-ranking delegation, Rashid arrived in Tehran on Saturday in his first visit to Iran since taking office last year.