Qalibaf: Regional security order changing following aggression on Iran
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf said on Wednesday that regional security order is changing following the recent aggression by the United States and Israel against Iran.
Qalibaf, who has traveled to Iraq for a two-day visit, made the remarks at the site where Iran and Iraq’s two iconic anti-terror commanders, Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were assassinated in a US drone strike in January 2020.
Iran’s top parliamentarian said that extra-regional powers are losing their influence over regional affairs, while US forces are seeking an orderly withdrawal from the region.
Qalibaf said his visit to Iraq is aimed at contributing to a new regional order and strengthening cooperation among regional countries without foreign interference.
“In the midst of the war, I also publicly stated several times that the Islamic countries of the region should seek deep security interactions and relations that are sustainable with economic cooperation, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is ready for this”, he added.
Resistance in Iraq
The Iranian parliament speaker also said the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has become a major source of strength for both Iran and Iraq, stressing that resistance discourse has expanded beyond the region and gained global reach.
Qalibaf said the two Iranian commanders had played a role in fighting Daesh and protecting Iraq, Iran and the wider region from the terrorist group.
“Did the assassination halt the power and influence of the resistance?” he asked, arguing that developments across the region demonstrate that the resistance movement continues to gain influence.
During his visit, the Iranian official held separate meetings with Iraq’s president, parliament speaker and prime minister.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi thanked Iran for its support to Iraq, particularly during the fight against the Daesh terrorist group.
‘Honorable exit’ from region
In a social media statement, Qalibaf highlighted a profound transformation in the regional balance of power, asserting that the era of Western hegemony in the region is rapidly ending.
“In the new regional order, foreign powers’ interference in the equations between states is receding at an accelerating pace,” Qalibaf noted.
He observed that the United States, exhausted by its costly and failed military adventurism, is now desperately seeking an “honorable exit” from the region.
Furthermore, Qalibaf declared the total strategic defeat of the Israeli regime’s expansionist ambitions.
He stated that Israel’s grand project of territorial expansion “from the river to the sea has become mere fragments of dreams.”