Iran, Iraq Discuss Boosting Anti-Terror Cooperation
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi met in New York to discuss a range of issues, including Tehran-Baghdad joint efforts in the battle against terrorism, an Iraqi source said.
Alsumaria news quoted the Iraqi prime minister’s office as saying that Zarif and Abadi met on the sidelines of the 70th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.
The two officials reportedly discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations and align efforts in the fight on terrorism.
They also talked about ways to fight off the ISIL terrorist group and rid Iraq and the region of the threat posed by the militants.
Iraq has been facing the growing threat of terrorism, mainly posed by the ISIL terrorists.
The ISIL militants made advances in northern and western Iraq over the summer 2014, after capturing swaths of northern Syria.
However, a combination of concentrated attacks by the Iraqi military and the volunteer forces, who rushed to take arms after top Iraqi cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling for fight against the militants, have blunted the edge of the ISIL offensive.
Amid tensions in Iraq, Iran is known as the first country to help the Arab state and has always voiced support for Iraq’s territorial integrity and prosperity.
